Names Inspired by Nova

For a few centuries, Nova was a rare word name describing an exploding star. Within the last decade, though, it has become a modern staple. Nova went from ranking outside the top 1000 to the top 50 in under ten years. This means that Nova will probably date to the 2020s. 

Parents who find Nova's rapid rise and/or popularity a problem will enjoy looking at this list of alternatives. This list is also for parents looking to name Nova's sister and name enthusiasts who love the name Nova. There are qualities of Nova that people like. Hence, they will also like the names listed below because they have at least half of Nova's qualities. 

To qualify as a name inspired by Nova, it must meet at least two of the following criteria along with containing some of Nova's sounds:

• Inspired by science or fantasy
• Mostly soft in sound
• Short and sweet
• Word name

Here are some names that are inspired by Nova:

Aura

Aura is a celestial word name referring to an illumination. It also has Nova's structure of four letters and an end letter of "a". 

Brio

Sweet Brio, the Italian musical term for vivacity, has Nova's four-letter structure and "o" sound. 

Cinder

Cinder is a soft word referring to ashes. Marissa Meyer's science fiction version of Cinderella has this name. 

Clover

Nature name Clover, which describes a green three- or four-leaf plant, has Nova's "ov" sound.

Dove

Dove is a sweet and soft bird name sharing Nova's strong "v" sound.

Ever

Sweet Ever has Nova's four-letter structure and "v" sound. It is the English word that simply refers to the movement of time.  

Halo

As Nova refers to a star, Halo refers to a ring that appears above an angel. Halo also refers to a video game series. It has Nova's structure and "o" sound as well. 

Io

Io is a sweet two-letter name with Nova's long "o" sound that refers to a moon of Jupiter.

Lumen

Lumen sounds like a shortened form of the term luminous, which means "light". The name's "lu" sound also adds some sweetness. It connects to a video game series as well. 

Lyra

Short and sweet Lyra is the name of a constellation in the night sky. It goes hand-in-hand with Nova's exploding star association. Lyra has the same structure as Nova, too. 

Marvel

Marvel is a mostly-soft word with the same strong "v" sound as Nova. It refers to a story or the sense of wonder but is best known as the famous superhero franchise. 

Navy

This is a word name referring to a military unit or a dark shade of blue. Navy also contains an "n" and "v" in the same spots as Nova. 

Neve

Short and sweet Neve is the anglicized spelling of the Irish Niamh that, like Navy, contains Nova's "n" and "v" sounds in the same order. 

Poet

Poet is a sweet word name that, obviously, refers to a writer of poetry. It has Nova's long "o" sound as well.

Rhea

Rhea doesn't just share Nova's structure, and sweetness. It's also one of Saturn's moons. 

Snow

Soft-sounding Snow contains Nova's "no" sound. It refers to the flakes that typically fall to the ground during the winter. Snow is also a fairy tale name as the titular character of Snow White. 

Swan

Soft Swan describes a white bird associated with beauty. 

Tesla

Tesla brings to mind scientist Nikola Tesla (1856-1943), who was the first to control electricity. It is also sweet via its "la" ending. 

Tuva

Tuva is a soft and cute Nordic name that ends in the same two letters as Nova. 

Vega

Vega shares the soft four-letter ends-in-"a" structure of Nova. It also refers to a star in the constellation of Lyra. 

Venus

Soft and sweet Venus, which shares Nova's strong "v", is a planet in the night sky.

Zelda

Zelda is mostly soft in sound, like Nova. It brings to mind Princess Zelda from the famous Legend of Zelda video games. 

Which of these names are your favorites? What names would you add to this list?