Nikole
Feminine · “victory of the people”
The k in Nikole is not an invention. The Greek behind the name is nike, victory, spelled with a kappa; Latin turned every kappa it borrowed into a c, and English inherited the c without ever hearing a difference. Nikole simply puts the original letter back.
How old is the name Nikole?
Nikole first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Nikole alive today was born around 1990, making them about 35 years old. About 6,800 people named Nikole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Nikole most popular?
Nikole peaked in 1972, reaching #689 nationally. Today it ranks #6325, 5,636 places below that high. See the whole 1972 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Nikolaos to Nikole
The story of Nikole
Saint Nicholas of Myra carried the Greek compound across Christian Europe, and medieval France produced feminine forms including Nicole and Colette. Nicole reached the English-speaking world properly in the twentieth century and became one of the defining American girls' names of the 1970s and 1980s. Nikole rose alongside it rather than after it, with its own best year in 1972, which is worth noting because variant spellings are usually assumed to lag their parent by a decade. This one did not. The k also carries a second signal in American use, where it reads as Eastern European or Scandinavian, and Nikole sits at the point where a restoration of Greek orthography and a hint of Slavic spelling happen to coincide.
Meaning
victory of the people
From Greek Nikolaos, combining nike, victory, with laos, people. The same nike gives Nicholas, Nicola, Nikita and the goddess of victory herself. Nicole is the French feminine of Nicolas, formed with the -ole ending, and this spelling changes only the consonant letter.
How the name formed
- Nikolaos
- Nicolaus
- Nicole
- Nikole
Related forms: Nicole · Nicola · Nikolina · Nikoleta
Pronouncing Nikole
nih-KOHL
Two syllables, stress on the second, and the final e is silent. Some Eastern European families say nee-KO-leh with three syllables, which follows the spelling more closely.
Nicknames for Nikole
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 1993237 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #689reached in 1972
- Change vs 2024
- +5.9%18 in 2025, from 17
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.
Nikole in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Nicole in French — same name
- Nicola in German — related form
- Nikolina in Russian — related form
- Nikoleta in Greek — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Nikoles among us
people named Nikole are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 89,293 born in 2025 was named Nikole
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Nikole
- #6325
- Nikole on the 2025 chart
- #346
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Nikole went to 18 girls in 2025, but Nicole and Nicolle are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 886, which makes it the 346th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,979 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 1,814 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 89,293 for Nikole 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 Bernita test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Nikole's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Bernita climbed just as high around 1933, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bernita's path sketches the road Nikole is walking now.
Nikole 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
Nikole beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Nikole in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The sound is completely familiar while the spelling is not, which is a rare combination.
- A settled Greek etymology and a major saint behind it.
- Nikki and Nika give it two very different short forms.
- Nicole is the overwhelming standard, so the k will be corrected to c on most documents.
- The spelling suggests three syllables to some readers, who will try nee-KO-lay.
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What they receive
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Nikole
Feminine · #6325 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Nikoles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,800 people named Nikole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Nikole?
- Nikole is one of 3 recorded spellings. Nicole is the more common one — 803 births in 2025 against 18 for Nikole.
- How popular is the name Nikole in 2025?
- Nikole ranks #6325 among US girl names in 2025, with 18 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Nikole?
- About 1 in every 89,293 US girls born in 2025 was named Nikole — 18 in all.
- Will my child share the name Nikole with classmates?
- Nikole will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Nikole
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kaye#6325 · Doria#6325 · Karolyn#6325 · Rosaleen#6325 · Roni#6325 · Darian#6325 · Svetlana#6325 · Fanny#6325
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Nikole? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Nikole and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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