Nicholas
Masculine · “victory of the people”
Nicholas is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 926,047 boys against 3,152 girls since 1880. See Nicholas as a girl name
Santa Claus is this name with the corners knocked off. Saint Nicholas became Sint Nikolaas in Dutch, Sinterklaas in speech, and Santa Claus in New York — three steps, all of them ordinary sound changes, from a fourth-century bishop of a town in what is now Turkey to a man in a red suit.
How old is the name Nicholas?
Nicholas was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Nicholas alive today was born around 1992, making them about 33 years old. About 845,000 people named Nicholas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nicholas most popular?
Nicholas peaked in 1999, reaching #5 nationally. Today it ranks #112, 107 places below that high. See the whole 1999 chart.
Where it comes from
From Nikolaos to Nicholas
The story of Nicholas
Nicholas of Myra was a bishop in the fourth century, and almost nothing about his life is documented, which did not stop him becoming the patron saint of sailors, merchants, pawnbrokers, repentant thieves and children. The story that fixed him was the one about secretly providing dowries for three girls, and the secrecy is the part that survived: gifts left at night, from someone who does not want to be seen. The Dutch kept the feast, brought it to New Amsterdam, and English speakers took the name from them by ear. The name itself had a very long run in England on its own account, common enough by the Middle Ages that Nick and Old Nick both entered the language, the second of them as a name for the devil.
Meaning
victory of the people
Greek Nikolaos: nike, victory, with laos, the people. Nike was also the goddess of victory, and laos is the word behind laity and laypeople. The compound was an ordinary Greek name long before it belonged to any saint.
Cultural footprint
Nicholas Winton (b. 1909) — Quietly saved 669 children from the Nazis; the world found out 50 years later
Nicholas Hoult (b. 1989) — About a Boy child star turned X-Men and Nosferatu lead
Nicholas Sparks (b. 1965) — Wrote The Notebook
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Nikolaos
- Nicolaus
- Nicholas
Related forms: Nikolaos · Nikolai · Niccolo · Nicolaas · Nicolas · Miklos
Pronouncing Nicholas
NIK-uh-lus
Three syllables, stress on the first. Spanish and French put it on the last, nee-ko-LAS. Russian Nikolai has the weight at the end too. The h in the English spelling is silent and was added in medieval Latin.
Nicknames for Nicholas
High
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 199529,160 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #5reached in 1999
- Change vs 2022
- −14.5%3,115 in 2025, from 3,643
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.
Nicholas in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nikolaos in Greek — same name
- Nikolai in Russian — same name
- Niccolo in Italian — same name
- Nicolaas in Dutch — same name
- Nicolas in Spanish — same name
- Miklos in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Texas.
Nicholass among us
people named Nicholas are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 548 born in 2025 was named Nicholas
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Joseph test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nicholas's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Joseph climbed just as high around 1912, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Joseph's path sketches the road Nicholas is walking now.
Nicholas is coming down from a big peak (#5 in 1999). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Nicholas is headed
Nicholas is easing off slowly — about 15% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Nicholas beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nicholas in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Greek meaning with both elements traceable to ordinary words.
- The same name in a dozen European languages, usually recognizable on sight.
- Four short forms of genuinely different registers, one of which serves either child.
- Continuous documented use for more than fifteen hundred years.
- It is very widely used and has been for decades, so it carries no signal at all.
- The Santa Claus connection is unavoidable and children will discover it.
- Nicolas, Nikolas and Nickolas are all in use, so the spelling will be given often.
- The very few girls given this exact spelling will be read as boys on every form.
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What they receive
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Nicholas
Masculine · #112 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nicholass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 845,000 people named Nicholas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nicholas in 2025?
- Nicholas ranks #112 among US boy names in 2025, with 3,115 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nicholas?
- About 1 in every 548 US boys born in 2025 was named Nicholas — 3,115 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nicholas with classmates?
- Nicholas will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nicholas
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Austin#113 · River#111 · Easton#110 · Jace#114 · Damian#109 · Jaxon#115 · Xavier#108 · Harrison#116
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nicholas? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nicholas and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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