Nichele
Feminine
Nichele could be a French woman's name with its first consonant changed or a build on a different name entirely, and the record does not choose. The familiar form its front spells has an unexplained second career as a name for the devil.
How old is the name Nichele?
Nichele first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Nichele alive today was born around 1980, making them about 45 years old. About 600 people named Nichele are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nichele most popular?
Nichele peaked in 1969, reaching #1835 nationally. See the whole 1969 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Nichele
Old Nick has been a name for the devil in English since the seventeenth century and nobody knows why. The obvious suggestion is Saint Nicholas, on the reasoning that Protestant England turned a Catholic saint into a bogey, but the dates do not fit well and the saint had no such associations elsewhere. A second theory takes it from the Germanic nix or nixie, a water spirit, which is at least a supernatural being but is not a devil and is not obviously connected. A third, offered in the eighteenth century, derived it from Machiavelli's first name, which is ingenious and almost certainly wrong. Dictionaries record all three and commit to none. The devil has a great many English nicknames — Old Harry, Old Scratch, the Deuce — and the origins of most of them are equally unrecoverable.
Meaningnot established
Not established
As a respelling of Michelle it carries the Hebrew question behind Michael; as a build on Nichola it carries the Greek sense of a people's victory. The two are unrelated, and changing an initial consonant is the most destructive kind of respelling because it removes the evidence.
Pronouncing Nichele
nih-SHELL
Two syllables with the stress at the back. The ch says sh, following the French name it most resembles, which the spelling does not signal.
Nicknames for Nichele
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 196945 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1835reached in 1969
- Change vs 2008
- −16.7%5 in 2011, from 6
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Nicheles among us
people named Nichele are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Nichele sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Back stress gives a two-syllable name a firm landing.
- Shelly detaches cleanly and works from childhood onward.
- The sound is entirely familiar even where the spelling is not.
- Nichelle, Michelle and Nicole will all be written for it.
- The ch has two possible readings, so the name is mispronounced on sight.
- The two possible parent names are unrelated, so the meaning has two routes.
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Nichele
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Nicheles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Nichele are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nichele in 2025?
- Nichele is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Nichele with classmates?
- Nichele will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nancy#965 · Nicole#382 · Natalie#89 · Norma#2002 · Nora#20 · Naomi#47 · Nellie#533 · Nina#324
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nichele? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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