Nicholis
Masculine · “victory of the people”
Nicholis swaps the final vowel of a Greek name for a Latin one. Both endings are genuine; they just come from different languages, and English has been using them interchangeably for this name for centuries.
How old is the name Nicholis?
Nicholis first appears in US birth records in 1955 — 70 years ago. The typical Nicholis alive today was born around 1991, making them about 34 years old. About 700 people named Nicholis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nicholis most popular?
Nicholis peaked in 1988, reaching #1849 nationally. See the whole 1988 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
The story of Nicholis
Greek men's names typically end in -os, and Latin turned that into -us, which is why so many classical names have two forms and English has picked one or the other more or less at random. Nicholas kept a spelling close to the Greek. Nicolaus is the Latin. In between there is a whole family of respellings, ending in -is, -us, -os and -es, all of which have some claim to a real ending in a real language and none of which is the standard English form. So a spelling like this one is not inventing a letter; it is choosing a different classical tradition, probably without meaning to.
Meaning
victory of the people
The Greek name joins the words for victory and people, and the reading is settled. Only the ending in this spelling is unusual in English.
Pronouncing Nicholis
NIK-uh-lis
Three syllables with the stress in front. The altered vowel is very slightly audible in careful speech.
Nicknames for Nicholis
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
- 1955
- Most boys named
- 199038 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1849reached in 1988
- Change vs 2017
- 0.0%5 in 2020, from 5
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.
Nicholis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nicolaus in Latin — same name
- Nikolaos in Greek — same name
Nicholiss among us
people named Nicholis 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
Nicholis 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
- Nick and Cole are both available as short forms and both are thoroughly established.
- The meaning is settled and can be given in three words.
- The name is understood everywhere in the Christian world without explanation.
- Nicholas is the standard spelling by an enormous margin and this one will be corrected constantly.
- At least five other spellings are in the record, so the name will be written several ways by other people.
- No reason for the ending is documented, so there is nothing to say when someone asks.
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Nicholis
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Nicholiss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Nicholis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Nicholis in 2025?
- Nicholis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Nicholis with classmates?
- Nicholis 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 Nicholis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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