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Novella

#2,559 in 2025Girls' name

New, early

Novella has been given to 6,272 babies in the U.S. since 1882. In 2025 it ranked #2,559 of 17,293 girls’ names in use. Its peak year was 1923, with 186 recorded.

Babies named Novella, 2025

1 in 48,000

Novella over time, 1880–2025

Girls
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Novella: meaning, origin, and history

New, early

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Novella means

Novella means “new, early”, associated with novello.

Origin, language, and formation

Novella is used in Italian.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 6,272 girls were recorded with the name Novella between 1882 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 186 in 1923; its best national rank was #494 in 1905.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #3,324 in 2020 to #2,559 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,206 in 2015 to #2,559 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 Novella?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 48,000
69 of 3,315,165 births
Among girls only
1 in 23,300
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2025
#2,559
of 17,293 girls’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
33,304 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Novella 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 5001%

Put another way: gather 33,304 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Novella. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Novellas were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Novella was born before 1932 — so the typical Novella is around 93 today.

Median birth year
1932
About 93 years old
Biggest decade
1920s
21.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
13.5%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
1,974
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1920s — 21.0% of all recorded uses (1,314).

Is Novella 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
+1,001
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+765
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,647
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.97×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
37.1%
Peak was 1923 (186)
Years since peak
102
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
23.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#494
1905

Spellings of Novella

Novella is not the most common spelling — Noelle is, with 38.2% against Novella's 5.4%.

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 Novella is used

Across 2016–2025, Novella was most concentrated in Tennessee — about 1 in 14,286 girls, against 1 in 70,810 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).

07 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Tennessee1 in 14,286
  2. 2Illinois1 in 50,000
  3. 3Indiana1 in 50,000
  4. 4Missouri1 in 50,000
  5. 5Michigan1 in 100,000
  6. 6North Carolina1 in 100,000
  7. 7New York1 in 100,000
  8. 8Ohio1 in 100,000

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.

Novella around the world

Where Novella 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
    #2,278
    in 2025
  • South Australia
    1986–2009
    #818
    in 2009

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

Notable people named Novella

People whose public names include Novella, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Novella by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#2,559
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 765
Best rank ever
#494
1905
Peak year
1923
186 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
6,272
Count in 2025
69

Names similar to Novella

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

NovaleeAngellaArdellaMirellaKamillaIdellaAdellaNovalieLouellaAnabellaNovahBriellaMariellaRosellaPricillaJoellaJanellaDonellaAriellaLovellaNovemberGisellaNoellaNovalynn

Names with a curve like Novella

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

MargaretteLavinaMarvelBethelAdellUnaVeronaRayMyrtisRosinaIdellaRubie

Sibling names for Novella

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 Novella

Top names of 1923, Novella's peak yearThe 1920s in fullOther names that peaked in 1905Girls' names starting with N