Nikola
Masculine · “victory of the people”
Nikola is given to both — 3,444 boys and 658 girls since 1880. See Nikola as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Nikola Tesla arrived in New York in 1884 with four cents and a letter of introduction, and spent the next decade winning the argument about how electricity should be distributed. Alternating current is why power stations can be far away from the places they light. The unit of magnetic flux density is named after him.
How old is the name Nikola?
Nikola first appears in US birth records in 1960 — 65 years ago. The typical Nikola alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 3,400 people named Nikola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nikola most popular?
Nikola peaked in 2020, reaching #1237 nationally. Today it ranks #1644, 407 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Nikolaos to Nikola
The story of Nikola
Tesla was born in what is now Croatia to a Serbian family and carried a name that is entirely ordinary in that part of Europe. His work on alternating current, the induction motor and polyphase systems settled the question of how to move electricity over distance, and the fact that a power station can be a hundred miles from a light bulb follows from it. He died in a New York hotel room with very little money. The name has a border running through it: south of a line it is a man's, north of it a woman's, and both are perfectly ordinary in their own country — which produces regular confusion on any form that crosses the line.
Meaning
victory of the people
Greek Nikolaos: nike, victory, with laos, the people. Nikola is the South Slavic form and is a man's name in Serbia, Croatia, Bulgaria and Macedonia. In Poland and the Czech lands the identical spelling is a woman's name, from Nicole — the same four syllables, two sexes, one border apart.
How the name formed
- Nikolaos
- Nikola
Related forms: Nikola · Nikola · Nikola · Nikolaos
Pronouncing Nikola
NEE-ko-lah
Three syllables, stress on the first, in the Balkan languages. Polish stresses the second, ni-KO-la. English speakers often say ni-KOH-luh, which is closer to the Polish than to the Serbian.
Nicknames for Nikola
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
- 1960
- Most boys named
- 2020151 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1237reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- −5.6%102 in 2025, from 108
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.
Nikola in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nikola in Serbian — same name
- Nikola in Bulgarian — same name
- Nikola in Polish — related form
- Nikolaos in Greek — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Illinois, Florida.
Nikolas among us
people named Nikola are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 16,746 born in 2025 was named Nikola
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nikola
- #1644
- Nikola on the 2025 chart
- #798
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nikola went to 102 boys in 2025, but Nicola 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 — 846 places above the chart.
- Nikola102
- Nicola28
About 1 boy in 13,139 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 16,746 for Nikola 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 Apolonio test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nikola's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Apolonio climbed just as high around 1929, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Apolonio's path sketches the road Nikola is walking now.
Nikola 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 Nikola is headed
Nikola 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.
Nikola beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nikola 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 with both elements traceable to ordinary words.
- The same spelling across five European languages.
- Three short forms, one of which serves either child.
- A documented modern bearer whose work is visible in every wall socket.
- It is a man's name south of one European border and a woman's north of it.
- The stress moves depending on which country the family comes from.
- The very few girls given this spelling in America will be read as boys on every form.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Nikola
Masculine · #1644 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nikolas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,400 people named Nikola are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nikola?
- Nikola is the most-used spelling in US records — 102 of the 130 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Nicola.
- How popular is the name Nikola in 2025?
- Nikola ranks #1644 among US boy names in 2025, with 102 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nikola?
- About 1 in every 16,746 US boys born in 2025 was named Nikola — 102 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nikola with classmates?
- Nikola will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nikola
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Reynaldo#1644 · Craig#1644 · Eamon#1644 · Woodrow#1644 · Elvin#1644 · Levon#1644 · Marcelino#1644 · Daemon#1644
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nikola? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nikola and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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