Nichole
Feminine · “victory of the people”
Nichole is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 63,770 girls against 184 boys since 1880.
Nichole is Nicole with an h borrowed back from Nicholas. The h was never in the Greek original — it crept into the Latin spelling in the Middle Ages and has been optional ever since.
How old is the name Nichole?
Nichole first appears in US birth records in 1942 — 83 years ago. The typical Nichole alive today was born around 1983, making them about 42 years old. About 62,000 people named Nichole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nichole most popular?
Nichole peaked in 1983, reaching #93 nationally. Today it ranks #3342, 3,249 places below that high. See the whole 1983 chart.
Nichole appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Nikolaos to Nichole
The story of Nichole
Nicholas was one of the great names of European Christianity on the strength of a fourth-century bishop of Myra whose reputation for secret gift-giving became, by a long route through Dutch and American custom, Santa Claus. French formed the feminine Nicole, and English borrowed it in the twentieth century, when it rose sharply through the 1970s. Nichole is the h-restored spelling of that wave, peaking in the early 1980s.
Meaning
victory of the people
From the Greek Nikolaos — nike, 'victory', and laos, 'people'. Both elements are ordinary Greek words and the compound is transparent. The h in the English spelling is a medieval Latin addition with no basis in the Greek.
How the name formed
- Nikolaos
- Nicholas
- Nicole
- Nichole
Related forms: Nicole · Nicoletta · Nikolina · Nicola
Pronouncing Nichole
nih-KOHL
Two syllables, stress on the second. The h is silent; Nichole and Nicole are homophones.
Nicknames for Nichole
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
- 1942
- Most girls named
- 19852,950 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #93reached in 1983
- Change vs 2023
- −4.2%46 in 2025, from 48
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.
Nichole in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nicole in French — spelling variant
- Nicoletta in Italian — related form
- Nikolina in Russian — related form
- Nicola in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Nicholes among us
people named Nichole are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 34,941 born in 2025 was named Nichole
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 Colleen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nichole's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Colleen climbed just as high around 1965, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Colleen's path sketches the road Nichole is walking now.
Nichole sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Nichole is headed
Nichole should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Nichole beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nichole in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent, undisputed and unusually forceful for a name this widely used.
- It sits in one of the largest name families in Europe, with cousins in every language.
- Nikki is a ready-made short form with a life of its own.
- The h does no audible work, so the spelling must be given every time.
- Nicole is far commoner and will be assumed by anyone writing the name down.
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What they receive
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Nichole
Feminine · #3342 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nicholes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 62,000 people named Nichole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nichole in 2025?
- Nichole ranks #3342 among US girl names in 2025, with 46 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nichole?
- About 1 in every 34,941 US girls born in 2025 was named Nichole — 46 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nichole with classmates?
- Nichole will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nichole
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zorah#3342 · Monique#3342 · Kinleigh#3342 · Emmelyn#3342 · Zyana#3342 · Swara#3342 · Azaleah#3342 · Elenora#3342
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nichole? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nichole and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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