Baby name inspiration can come from anywhere, and today it comes from… a horse.
Not just any horse, but one belonging to Grammy-award-winning country musician Kacey Musgraves.
“Hard launching a new relationship,” Kacey Musgraves posted on Instagram earlier this month, along with three photos of the new horse and a screenshot of information about the horse’s name, Nava.
Nava derives from the Hebrew word na-VEH and means beautiful (in both appearance and in spirit). The word is found in the highly romantic Biblical poem “Song of Songs” — the same place you can find the popular phrase “I am my beloved and my beloved is mine.”
Like many names, Nava has roots in several languages and cultures. In Persian, it means melody or song. In Spanish, Nava can reference the province Navarre, whose name may derive from a Basque word that means “plain or valley next to the mountain.” It also means beautiful in Arabic.
We love the name for being rooted in Judaism but feeling thoroughly modern. Nava, of course, ends with the “-ah” sound, which is a trend that doesn’t seem to be going anywhere (according to the Social Security Administration, there are seven currently in the top 10 list of popular baby names: Olivia, Emma, Amelia, Mia, Sophia/Sofia and Isabella).
Nava, which, according to Nameberry was given to 80 girls in 2023, feels current but is unique enough to stand out. Anecdotally, it was on my shortlist when naming my now 10-year-old, and I know of two tween girls in my mid-sized Jewish community named Nava — and now, one famous horse.
