Nova comes from the Latin novus, meaning "new." In astronomy, a nova is a star that suddenly increases dramatically in brightness — from a previously dim star to one that may rival the brightest in the sky for weeks before fading.
Nova as a girl's name is a contemporary phenomenon. It entered the U.S. top 1000 in 2011 and has risen explosively. Today it sits in the U.S. top 30 — one of the fastest-rising names of the 2020s.
Nova reduces to one — the number of new beginnings.