Nicola
Masculine · “victory of the people”
Nicola is given to both — 3,012 boys and 5,078 girls since 1880. See Nicola as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Nicola is the Italian form of Nicholas, and it is a men's name in Italy — which surprises English speakers, for whom it is entirely a women's one.
How old is the name Nicola?
Nicola first appears in US birth records in 1908 — 117 years ago. The typical Nicola alive today was born around 1981, making them about 44 years old. About 2,300 people named Nicola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nicola most popular?
Nicola peaked in 1972, reaching #1120 nationally. Today it ranks #3848, 2,728 places below that high. See the whole 1972 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Nikolaos to Nicola
The story of Nicola
Nicholas of Myra, a fourth-century bishop, became the patron of sailors, merchants, pawnbrokers and children, and his cult reached northern Europe partly because his relics were taken to Bari in 1087 — which is why the name is so common in southern Italy. Nicola is the Italian men's form. It reaches American records with Italian families, where it is regularly mistaken for the women's name.
Meaning
victory of the people
From Greek nike, victory, and laos, the people; the compound is transparent and the same first element names the goddess of victory and, much later, a sportswear company.
How the name formed
- Nikolaos
- Nicolaus
- Nicola
Related forms: Nicola · Nicholas · Nikolai · Nicolás
Pronouncing Nicola
NEE-koh-lah
Three syllables, first stressed in Italian. English speakers say nih-KOH-lah, which marks it as the women's name.
Nicknames for Nicola
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
- 1908
- Most boys named
- 199748 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1120reached in 1972
- Change vs 2023
- −3.4%28 in 2025, from 29
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.
Nicola in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nicola in Italian — same name
- Nicholas in English — same name
- Nikolai in Russian — same name
- Nicolás in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Florida, New York, California.
Nicolas among us
people named Nicola are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 61,003 born in 2025 was named Nicola
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nicola
- #3848
- Nicola on the 2025 chart
- #798
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nicola went to 28 boys in 2025, but Nikola is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 130, which makes it the 798th most-given boys’ name of the year — 3,050 places above the chart.
- Nikola102
- Nicola28
About 1 boy in 13,139 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 61,003 for Nicola 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 Isamu test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nicola's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Isamu climbed just as high around 1922, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Isamu's path sketches the road Nicola is walking now.
Nicola 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 Nicola is headed
Nicola 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.
Nicola beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nicola 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 that is completely transparent once explained.
- Nico and Nick are both ready short forms with international currency.
- Very well used in Italy, so it has a large community behind it.
- In English it is read as a women's name, and he will correct that constantly.
- The stress differs between the Italian men's and the English women's readings.
- Nicola, Niccolò and Nicolas are all Italian and get confused.
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What they receive
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Nicola
Masculine · #3848 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nicolas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,300 people named Nicola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nicola?
- Nicola is one of 2 recorded spellings. Nikola is the more common one — 102 births in 2025 against 28 for Nicola.
- How popular is the name Nicola in 2025?
- Nicola ranks #3848 among US boy names in 2025, with 28 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nicola?
- About 1 in every 61,003 US boys born in 2025 was named Nicola — 28 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nicola with classmates?
- Nicola will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nicola
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Armand#3848 · Tracy#3848 · Stafford#3848 · Dewey#3848 · Donny#3848 · Trevion#3848 · Coltyn#3848 · Isreal#3848
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nicola? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nicola and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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