Nicolas
Masculine · “victory of the people”
Nicolas is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 101,585 boys against 179 girls since 1880.
Nicolas is the French and Spanish spelling of a name the Greeks made out of two everyday words, and it has been in continuous use since the Roman Empire was still standing. Four syllables in English, three brisk ones in French, and it shortens in a heartbeat to Nick or Nico. Few names have been carried through so many languages with so little damage.
How old is the name Nicolas?
Nicolas first appears in US birth records in 1882 — 143 years ago. The typical Nicolas alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 97,000 people named Nicolas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nicolas most popular?
Nicolas peaked in 1998, reaching #132 nationally. Today it ranks #177, 45 places below that high. See the whole 1998 chart.
Where it comes from
From Nikolaos to Nicolas
The story of Nicolas
The name begins as Greek Nikolaos and belongs, above all, to the fourth-century bishop of Myra in Asia Minor — the Saint Nicholas whose gift-giving legend traveled through Dutch and German tellings and eventually became Santa Claus. Latin turned him into Nicolaus, and from there every corner of Europe made its own version. Nicolas, with a single l, is the French form, and also the Spanish and Portuguese one once the accent on Nicolás is dropped. In the United States it has arrived by more than one road: through French, through Spanish, and through families who simply preferred the leaner spelling to Nicholas.
Meaning
victory of the people
From Greek nikē, victory, and laos, the people.
Cultural footprint
Nicolas Cage (b. 1964) — Oscar winner and Hollywood's most fearless wild card
Nicolas Appert (b. 1749) — Invented canned food
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Nikolaos
- Nicolaus
- Nicholas
- Nicolas
Related forms: Nikolaos · Nicolás · Nikolai · Niccolò · Nikolaus · Klaas
Pronouncing Nicolas
NIK-uh-lus
That is the usual English reading, identical to Nicholas. In French it is nee-koh-LAH with a silent s; in Spanish, nee-koh-LAHS with the stress on the last syllable.
Nicknames for Nicolas
High
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
- 1882
- Most boys named
- 20042,872 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #132reached in 1998
- Change vs 2022
- +3.2%2,053 in 2025, from 1,989
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.
Nicolas in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nikolaos in Greek — same name
- Nicolás in Spanish — spelling variant
- Nikolai in Russian — same name
- Niccolò in Italian — same name
- Nikolaus in German — same name
- Klaas in Dutch — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Nicolass among us
people named Nicolas are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 832 born in 2025 was named Nicolas
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nicolas
- #177
- Nicolas on the 2025 chart
- #145
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nicolas went to 2,053 boys in 2025, but Nikolas and Nickolas are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 2,558, which makes it the 145th most-given boys’ name of the year — 32 places above the chart.
and 2 rarer spellings.
About 1 boy in 668 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 832 for Nicolas 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 Tyrone test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nicolas's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Tyrone climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Tyrone's path sketches the road Nicolas is walking now.
Nicolas peaked long ago yet still holds steady — names that survive their own wave usually settle into quiet, durable classics.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Nicolas is headed
Nicolas should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High 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.
Nicolas beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nicolas in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Works in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian with only small shifts in stress — useful in a bilingual family.
- Ready-made short forms in Nick and Nico, both of which have stood on their own for generations.
- An unbroken written record stretching back to Greek antiquity, and no period since when it fell out of use.
- Familiar enough that nobody asks what it is, uncommon enough that a classroom rarely holds two.
- The single l is the main friction. Nicolas will be written as Nicholas by teachers, coaches and doctors' offices for life, and correcting it becomes a small routine.
- In Spanish the name carries an accent, Nicolás, and stress on the final syllable. Deciding early whether your household writes it with or without the accent saves confusion on documents.
- Pronunciation shifts by language, so a Nicolas raised in English may hear the French version from relatives and the Spanish one from friends. Most bearers simply answer to all three.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Nicolas to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Nicolas
Masculine · #177 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nicolass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 97,000 people named Nicolas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nicolas?
- Nicolas is the most-used spelling in US records — 2,053 of the 2,558 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Nikolas and Nickolas.
- How popular is the name Nicolas in 2025?
- Nicolas ranks #177 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,053 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nicolas?
- About 1 in every 832 US boys born in 2025 was named Nicolas — 2,053 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nicolas with classmates?
- Nicolas will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nicolas
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Antonio#176 · Judah#178 · Felix#175 · Emmanuel#179 · Nico#174 · Max#180 · Jesus#173 · Tucker#181
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nicolas? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nicolas and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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