Nico
Feminine · “victory of the people”
Nico is given to both — 1,028 girls and 21,294 boys since 1880. See Nico as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Nico clips the Greek Nikolaos, victory of the people — and it belongs to both sexes across Europe without anyone thinking twice.
How old is the name Nico?
Nico first appears in US birth records in 1967 — 58 years ago. The typical Nico alive today was born around 2011, making them about 14 years old. About 1,000 people named Nico are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nico most popular?
Nico peaked in 1971, reaching #3062 nationally. Today it ranks #4546, 1,484 places below that high. See the whole 1971 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Nico
Ours, offered as ours. Nike was the winged goddess of victory and the Greeks put her on coins, on temples and in the hands of larger gods — the Athena at the Parthenon held one. The Winged Victory of Samothrace is her. A whole family of names carries her: Nicholas, Nicole, Nikita, Veronica, Berenice. Nico is two syllables of that, and it works in Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch for either sex.
Meaning
victory of the people
From Greek nike, victory, and laos, the people; the compound is a complete phrase. Nike the goddess and the words Eunice and Veronica share the first element.
Pronouncing Nico
NEE-koh
Two syllables, first stressed. Some American families say NY-koh.
Nicknames for Nico
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
- 1967
- Most girls named
- 200945 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3062reached in 1971
- Change vs 2024
- −14.3%30 in 2025, from 35
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.
Nico in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nico in Italian — same name
- Nicole in English — related form
- Nikolaos in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York.
Nicos among us
people named Nico are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 53,576 born in 2025 was named Nico
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nico
- #4546
- Nico on the 2025 chart
- #911
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nico went to 30 girls in 2025, but Niko is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 49, which makes it the 911th most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,635 places above the chart.
- Nico30
- Niko19
About 1 girl in 32,801 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 53,576 for Nico itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Sherlynn test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nico's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Sherlynn climbed just as high around 1947, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Sherlynn's path sketches the road Nico is walking now.
Nico 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 Nico is headed
Nico 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.
Nico beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nico in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning that forms a complete phrase.
- Four letters and two syllables, about as easy to write as a name gets.
- Works unchanged across Italian, Spanish, German and Dutch.
- It is more often a men's name in Europe, so forms may guess wrong.
- The first vowel is unsettled between NEE and NY in America.
- It reads as a nickname, which may matter on a formal document.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Nico
Feminine · #4546 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nicos are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Nico are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nico?
- Nico is the most-used spelling in US records — 30 of the 49 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Niko.
- How popular is the name Nico in 2025?
- Nico ranks #4546 among US girl names in 2025, with 30 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nico?
- About 1 in every 53,576 US girls born in 2025 was named Nico — 30 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nico with classmates?
- Nico will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nico
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Amie#4546 · Rashell#4546 · Renatta#4546 · Raisa#4546 · Amena#4546 · Aryn#4546 · Nadiya#4546 · Jeanne#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nico? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nico and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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