Nicholes
Masculine · “Victory of the people”
Nicholes is a surname given as a first name, and the s at the end of it is not a plural — it is a possessive, worn flat: the name means Nichol's, with the word son long since dropped off.
How old is the name Nicholes?
Nicholes first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Nicholes alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 800 people named Nicholes are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nicholes most popular?
Nicholes peaked in 1979, reaching #1633 nationally. See the whole 1979 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Nikolaos to Nicholes
The story of Nicholes
Nicholas was, for several centuries, one of the three or four commonest men's names in England — behind John and William, about level with Thomas — and that density is why it left so many surnames behind. Nichols, Nicholson, Nixon, Colson, Collins, Cole: all of them are the same name, worn down different ways by different regions, and a man with any of them has an ancestor called Nicholas whether or not the family remembers one. The first name reached America through the church and the surname through the parish registers, and this spelling is the point where the two met again on a birth certificate.
Meaning
Victory of the people
The Greek original joins victory and people. The surname it passes through is a patronymic: in English the possessive s alone came to mean son of, so that Williams, Jones, Roberts and Nichols are all shortened from a longer phrase nobody says any more.
How the name formed
- Nikolaos
- Nicholas
- Nichols
- Nicholes
Pronouncing Nicholes
NIK-uls
Two syllables, stress at the front. The e in the ending is silent and the name is said exactly as the surname.
Nicknames for Nicholes
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
- 1950
- Most boys named
- 198940 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1633reached in 1979
- Change vs 2011
- −28.6%5 in 2013, from 7
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.
Nicholess among us
people named Nicholes 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
Nicholes 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
- The name underneath is ancient, universally recognized and carried everywhere.
- It shortens two ways and both short forms are current.
- The meaning is settled and genuinely good.
- Nicholas and Nichols are both far more familiar and his will be written as one of them.
- The s at the end will be read as a plural by anyone who has not thought about it.
- The added e does nothing audible.
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Nicholes
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Nicholess are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Nicholes are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nicholes in 2025?
- Nicholes is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Nicholes with classmates?
- Nicholes will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More N names
The most-given names starting with N, all years combined.
Nicholas#112 · Nathan#63 · Noah#2 · Nathaniel#140 · Norman#1196 · Nolan#65 · Neil#850 · Nicolas#177
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nicholes? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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