Nikol
Feminine · “Greek nike and laos”
Nickel is named after a goblin. German miners called an ore Kupfernickel, copper demon, because it looked like copper and yielded none, and they blamed a mischievous spirit called Nickel, a familiar form of Nicholas. When the metal in it was isolated in 1751 it kept the second half of the insult.
How old is the name Nikol?
Nikol first appears in US birth records in 1968 — 57 years ago. The typical Nikol alive today was born around 1987, making them about 38 years old. About 900 people named Nikol are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nikol most popular?
Nikol peaked in 1973, reaching #2019 nationally. Today it ranks #8860, 6,841 places below that high. See the whole 1973 chart.
Where it comes from
From Nikolaos to Nikol
The story of Nikol
The ore was niccolite, a nickel arsenide that occurs in the Ore Mountains and resembles copper ore closely enough to be mistaken for it. Smelters could get no copper out of it and it gave off arsenic fumes when heated, which did not improve tempers, so they called it Kupfernickel, meaning something like the copper devil. Nickel was a standard German name for a mischievous sprite, from Nikolaus, in the same way that Old Nick is a name for the devil in English and probably by the same route. Axel Cronstedt isolated the metal from the ore in 1751 and named it nickel, keeping the goblin and dropping the copper. Cobalt has an almost identical history, being named from Kobold, a mine spirit, for the same reason: an ore that looked valuable, smelled poisonous and produced nothing.
Meaning
Greek nike and laos, victory of the people
From Greek nike, victory, and laos, the people. Nikol is a Czech, Bulgarian and Greek spelling of Nicole, the French feminine of Nicholas. Slavic and Greek forms generally drop the French final e. The metal nickel takes its name from the same Nicholas by way of a German mining term. It peaks in the American data in 1973.
How the name formed
- Nikolaos
- Nicole
- Nikol
Related forms: Nikol · Nicole · Nikol
Pronouncing Nikol
nee-KOL
Two syllables, stress on the second. The French Nicole is nee-KOHL with the same stress and a silent final e. Czech says NEE-kol with the stress at the front, following the Czech rule.
Nicknames for Nikol
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
- 1968
- Most girls named
- 197140 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2019reached in 1973
- Change vs 2024
- +83.3%11 in 2025, from 6
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.
Nikol in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nikol in Czech — same name
- Nicole in French — same name
- Nikol in Greek — transliteration
Strongest US states over the last decade: Illinois.
Nikols among us
people named Nikol are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 146,115 born in 2025 was named Nikol
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nikol
- #8860
- Nikol on the 2025 chart
- #933
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nikol went to 11 girls in 2025, but Nicol is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 27, which makes it the 933rd most-given girls’ name of the year — 7,927 places above the chart.
- Nicol16
- Nikol11
About 1 girl in 59,528 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 146,115 for Nikol 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 Bryna test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nikol's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bryna climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bryna's path sketches the road Nikol is walking now.
Nikol 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
Nikol beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nikol in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Greek meaning is settled and entirely positive.
- Niki is a familiar and usable short form.
- The spelling is standard in several European languages.
- Nicole is far more common in the United States.
- The stress falls differently in Czech and French.
- It will be read as an incomplete spelling of Nicole.
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What they receive
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Nikol
Feminine · #8860 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nikols are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Nikol are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nikol?
- Nikol is one of 2 recorded spellings. Nicol is the more common one — 16 births in 2025 against 11 for Nikol.
- How popular is the name Nikol in 2025?
- Nikol ranks #8860 among US girl names in 2025, with 11 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nikol?
- About 1 in every 146,115 US girls born in 2025 was named Nikol — 11 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nikol with classmates?
- Nikol will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nikol
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Lida#8860 · Lauretta#8860 · Dot#8860 · Bonita#8860 · Benita#8860 · Trixie#8860 · Adna#8860 · Sue#8860
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nikol? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nikol and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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