Nick
A masculine name with origins in Greek meaning "victorious people".
Name Census estimates that about 28,564 living Americans carry the first name Nick. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nick today is around 54 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nick births was 1960 (1,099 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nick. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Nick with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Nick is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 132 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
29K
~ 1 in 12,000 Americans
Peak year
1960
1,099 babies that year
Average age
54
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,418
Tracked since 1880
Census
Nick in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 115,418 people with the first name Nick, which placed it at #488 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
#488
National first-name rank
People counted
115K
115,418 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
38.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
79.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nick
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nick is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.6%). 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 Nick 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 Nick at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White79.3% · 91,546
- Hispanic or Latino10.3% · 11,939
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.6% · 4,201
- Black or African American3.4% · 3,900
- Two or more races2.6% · 3,033
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 799
Gender
Gender distribution for Nick
Out of the 50,460 babies given the name Nick since 1880, 99.7% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Nick as a male name
- Ranked #1,418 in 2024
- 130 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1960 (1,099 births)
Nick as a female name
- Ranked #9,978 in 1981
- 6 female births in 1981
- Peak: 1924 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nick appears almost entirely male. Of the 115,412 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Nick: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nick from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 8,020 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nick 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 Nick during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nicks live
The SSA's state-level files cover 46 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Nick, while Delaware, Wyoming, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 944 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nick
The given name Nick is a diminutive form of the name Nicholas, which is derived from the Greek name Nikolaos. Nikolaos is a combination of the words "niko" meaning "victory" and "laos" meaning "people". The name can be interpreted as "victor of the people" or "people's champion".
The earliest known use of the name Nicholas dates back to the 3rd century AD. One of the most famous historical figures with this name is Saint Nicholas, a 4th-century Christian saint and Greek bishop of Myra in modern-day Turkey. He is the primary inspiration for the legendary character of Santa Claus, known for his generosity and gift-giving.
In the Middle Ages, the name Nicholas was widely popular across Europe, particularly in regions influenced by the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches. It was often associated with piety, kindness, and charity, reflecting the virtues of Saint Nicholas.
One notable figure from this period was Nicholas of Cusa, a German philosopher, theologian, and mathematician born in 1401. He made significant contributions to the fields of science and philosophy during the Renaissance.
During the Renaissance and Reformation periods, the name Nicholas remained popular among various European cultures. One prominent figure was Nicholas Copernicus, the Polish astronomer born in 1473, who revolutionized our understanding of the solar system with his heliocentric theory.
In the 19th century, the name Nicholas gained further popularity in various cultures. One famous bearer of the name was Nicholas I, who reigned as the Emperor of Russia from 1825 to 1855. Another notable figure was Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, who ruled from 1894 until his abdication in 1917.
The diminutive form "Nick" emerged as a common shortened version of Nicholas, particularly in English-speaking countries. Some famous individuals known by the name Nick include Nick Drake, an English singer-songwriter born in 1948, and Nick Lowe, an English singer-songwriter and producer born in 1949.
Overall, the name Nick, derived from Nicholas, has a rich history spanning centuries and cultures. It has been associated with various historical figures, saints, and notable individuals, reflecting its enduring popularity and diverse cultural influences.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Nick
People
Nick + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nick 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
Nick: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nick?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 28,564 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nick 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 12,000 US residents.
Is Nick a common name?
We classify Nick as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 50,460 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nick most popular?
The single biggest year for Nick was 1960, when 1,099 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nick is about 54 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nick in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 115,418 people with the name Nick, or 38.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #488 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 Nick 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 Nick?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nick appears almost entirely male. Of the 115,412 people counted with this name, 99.1% 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 Nick?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nick is White at 79.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (10.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.6%). 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 Nick most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nick in the 2020 Census, accounting for 79.3% (91,546 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 Nick in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nick a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Nick 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 Nick still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nick 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 Nick 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 are named Nick?
Find out how many people have the name Nick on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.