Nichalas
Variant of the Greek name Nicholas, meaning "victory of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 271 living Americans carry the first name Nichalas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nichalas today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nichalas births was 1988 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nichalas. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
271
~ 1 in 1,264,776 Americans
Peak year
1988
15 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2006 SSA rank
#11,628
Tracked since 1977
Census
Nichalas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 231 people with the first name Nichalas, which placed it at #35,041 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#35,041
National first-name rank
People counted
231
231 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
69.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nichalas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nichalas is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Hispanic (10.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Nichalas described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Nichalas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White69.3% · 160
- Black or African American12.6% · 29
- Hispanic or Latino10.8% · 25
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.0% · 7
- Two or more races3.0% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
Popularity
Nichalas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nichalas from the 1970s through to the 2000s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 101 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1980s peak, Nichalas remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nichalas by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Nichalas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nichalas
The name Nichalas is derived from the Greek name Nikolaos, which is a combination of the words "niko" meaning "victory" and "laos" meaning "people." The name Nikolaos was initially a descriptive epithet for someone who was victorious over people or a defender of the people.
Its origins can be traced back to the 3rd century BCE in ancient Greece. The name gained popularity among early Christians due to its association with Saint Nicholas, the 4th century Bishop of Myra, who was known for his generosity and became the inspiration for the modern-day Santa Claus.
The name Nichalas is an alternative spelling of the more common English form Nicholas. This variant spelling emerged in the Middle Ages and was used interchangeably with Nicholas in various regions of Europe. One of the earliest recorded examples of this spelling can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nichalas. One such individual was Nichalas Breakspear, who became Pope Adrian IV in 1154, the only Englishman to hold the papal office. Another was Nichalas Flamel, a 14th-century French scribe and manuscript-seller, who was believed to have discovered the philosopher's stone and achieved immortality.
In the realm of literature, the name Nichalas is associated with Nichalas Udall, a 16th-century English playwright and cleric known for his comedic work "Ralph Roister Doister." Additionally, Nichalas Ferrar, an English scholar and theologian born in 1592, founded the Protestant religious community known as the English Arminian Protestants or the Ferrar Family.
One of the most famous bearers of the name Nichalas was Nichalas Culpeper, an English botanist, herbalist, and physician who lived from 1616 to 1654. His influential work, "The English Physitian," made medicinal knowledge accessible to the general public.
People
Nichalas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nichalas as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nichalas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nichalas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 271 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nichalas going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,264,776 US residents.
Is Nichalas a common name?
We classify Nichalas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 280 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nichalas most popular?
The single biggest year for Nichalas was 1988, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nichalas is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nichalas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 231 people with the name Nichalas, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,041 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Nichalas in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Nichalas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nichalas appears almost entirely male. Of the 224 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Nichalas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nichalas is White at 69.3%. The next largest groups are Black (12.6%) and Hispanic (10.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Nichalas most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nichalas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 69.3% (160 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Nichalas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nichalas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nichalas in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Nichalas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nichalas in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Nichalas can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Nichalas?
Find out how many people share the name Nichalas on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.