Novella is an Italian name from the Latin novellus and means "new" or "young"; in English it is also the word for a short novel. Novella d'Andrea, a 14th-century scholar in Bologna, is said to have lectured in law in her father's place, and the name saw some use in the American South a century ago. Novella ranked number 12784 in 2000 and has climbed with the Nova trend to number 2559 in 2025, its highest rank on record.