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Novalee

#977 in 2025Girls' name

Elaboration of Nova

Novalee has been given to 4,567 babies in the U.S. since 1962. In 2025 it ranked #977 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 2024, with 379 recorded.

Babies named Novalee, 2025

1 in 12,700

Novalee over time, 1880–2025

Girls
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Novalee: meaning, origin, and history

Elaboration of Nova

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Novalee means

Novalee is a elaboration of Nova.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Novalee is used in English (Modern).

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Novalee → Nova. The family’s meaning is “new”, recorded in English with the source elements nova.

Origin, language, and formation

Novalee is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nova.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 4,567 girls were recorded with the name Novalee between 1962 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 379 in 2024; its best national rank was #743 in 2024.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #811 in 2020 to #977 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,150 in 2015 to #977 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Novalee?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 12,700
261 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 6,160
0.02% of girls
Rank, 2025
#977
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
8,805 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Novalee sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5004%

Put another way: gather 8,805 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Novalee. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Novalees were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Novalee was born before 2019 — so the typical Novalee is around 6 today.

Median birth year
2019
About 6 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
45.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
99.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
4,567
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 45.0% of all recorded uses (2,055).

Is Novalee rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−234
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−166
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+173
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.18×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
68.9%
Peak was 2024 (379)
Years since peak
1
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.4% average annual change
Best rank ever
#743
2024

Spellings of Novalee

Novalee is not the most common spelling — Rosalee is, with 33.4% against Novalee's 11.8%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Novalee is used

Across 2016–2025, Novalee was most concentrated in West Virginia — about 1 in 1,220 girls, against 1 in 4,665 across all states with data. It was least common in Maryland (1 in 50,000).

282 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1West Virginia1 in 1,220
  2. 2Kentucky1 in 1,923
  3. 3Arkansas1 in 2,174
  4. 4Indiana1 in 2,222
  5. 5Missouri1 in 2,500
  6. 6Tennessee1 in 2,564
  7. 7Wisconsin1 in 2,632
  8. 8Alabama1 in 3,030

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Novalee is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 67% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Novalee around the world

Where Novalee ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2015–2025
    #4,201
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2001–2024
    #3,457
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1965–2003
    #739
    in 2003

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Novalee by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#977
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 166
Best rank ever
#743
2024
Peak year
2024
379 that year
First recorded
1962
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
4,567
Count in 2025
261

Names similar to Novalee

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

NovellaKinsleeJubileePresleeMaryleeBrayleeWrenleeShayleeBrinleeEverleeNovalieMarileeNovahAnnaleeCoraleeEmmaleeKynsleeMayleeAdaleeNataleeRayleeHadleePaisleeLoralee

Names with a curve like Novalee

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Novalee, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

SaoirseWaverlyDenverEmilianaLyannaLennoxMarloweEzraZayleeBrynleighDiorMeilani

Sibling names for Novalee

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Novalee

Top names of 2024, Novalee's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2024Girls' names starting with N