Novalee
A feminine name of American origin meaning "new meadow" or "new field".
Name Census estimates that about 4,265 living Americans carry the first name Novalee. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Novalee today is around 9 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Novalee births was 2024 (377 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Novalee. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Novalee with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Novalee is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 9 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.3K
~ 1 in 80,364 Americans
Peak year
2024
377 babies that year
Average age
9
years old
2024 SSA rank
#744
Tracked since 1962
Census
Novalee in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,099 people with the first name Novalee, which placed it at #7,307 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,307
National first-name rank
People counted
2.1K
2,099 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Novalee
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Novalee is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.8%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Novalee described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Novalee at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.5% · 1,375
- Hispanic or Latino22.8% · 479
- Two or more races7.1% · 149
- Black or African American2.4% · 50
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 33
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 13
Popularity
Novalee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Novalee from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,993 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Novalee by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Novalee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Novalees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 41 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Novalee, while Utah, South Dakota, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 76 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Novalee
Novalee is a modern invented name that emerged in the late 20th century. It is not derived from any specific language or culture but rather appears to be a creative combination of the English words "nova" meaning "new" and "lee" which can be a surname or a masculine name derived from the Old English word "leah" meaning "meadow" or "clearing."
The name Novalee does not have any known historical references or appearances in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records prior to its recent coinage. Its origins can be traced back to the United States, where it gained popularity as a feminine given name in the latter part of the 20th century.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Novalee can be found in the 2000 novel "Where the Heart Is" by Billie Letts. The book's protagonist, a young pregnant woman named Novalee Nation, played a significant role in popularizing the name.
As for notable individuals bearing the name Novalee, here are a few examples:
1. Novalee Reinhart (born 1977) is an American former pornographic actress and adult film director.
2. Novalee Wicker (born 1994) is an American professional soccer player who currently plays as a defender for the Houston Dash in the National Women's Soccer League.
3. Novalee Todd (born 1991) is an American country music singer and songwriter. She has released two studio albums, "Novalee" (2014) and "Heartstrings" (2018).
4. Novalee Strickland (born 1988) is an American professional wrestler, known by her ring name Nova. She has performed for various wrestling promotions, including WWE and Ring of Honor.
5. Novalee Burnett (1952-2019) was an American artist and sculptor, known for her large-scale public art installations and sculptures made from recycled materials.
These are some examples of individuals who have borne the name Novalee throughout recent history, though the name remains relatively uncommon and does not have a long historical lineage or cultural background.
People
Novalee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Novalee as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Novalee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Novalee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,265 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Novalee going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 80,364 US residents.
Is Novalee a common name?
We classify Novalee as "Rare". It ranks above 96.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,301 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Novalee most popular?
The single biggest year for Novalee was 2024, when 377 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Novalee is about 9 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Novalee in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,099 people with the name Novalee, or 0.69 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,307 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Novalee in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Novalee?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Novalee appears almost entirely female. Of the 2,098 people counted with this name, 99.5% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Novalee?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Novalee is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (22.8%) and Two or More Races (7.1%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Novalee most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Novalee in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (1,375 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Novalee in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Novalee a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Novalee in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Novalee still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Novalee in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Novalee can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Novalee?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.