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While this is a nice story, it's not true [1] [2].

[1]: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/chevrolet-nova-name-spanis...

[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Chevy_II_/_Nova

If nothing else, perhaps this persistent myth helps reduce the naming conflicts when someone wants to use Nova.

As a native Spanish speaker, this sounds totally made up. Nova sounds like an astronomy word, like supernova. “No va” to me means something like “it’s not happening” or “the plans have been cancelled”. But it’s pronounced very differently.

And Uranus (when spoken aloud) means “your butt”. Is this really a big concern?

No, I’m from Spain and have never though about that "no va" thing. Nova comes from Latin AFAIK. It would be "nueva" in Spanish and "nuova" in Italian.

Edit: Uranus is Latin too :)

And "nova" in Portuguese!

Future astronomers will rename it to "Urectum" to stop the stupid jokes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0czFnIvKOJY