Nickola
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "victor of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 106 living Americans carry the first name Nickola. It is a predominantly female name (96.3% of registrations). The average person named Nickola today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nickola births was 1972 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nickola. 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 Nickola with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
106
~ 1 in 3,233,531 Americans
Peak year
1972
11 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1949 SSA rank
#4,066
Tracked since 1943
Census
Nickola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 346 people with the first name Nickola, which placed it at #26,749 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
#26,749
National first-name rank
People counted
346
346 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nickola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nickola is White at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Nickola 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 Nickola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.5% · 223
- Black or African American26.3% · 91
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 14
- Two or more races2.3% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Nickola
Nickola leans heavily female at 96.3% of total registrations, but 5 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nickola as a male name
- Ranked #4,066 in 1949
- 5 male births in 1949
- Peak: 1949 (5 births)
Nickola as a female name
- Ranked #9,979 in 1981
- 6 female births in 1981
- Peak: 1972 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nickola on both sides of the split. Of the 342 people counted with this name, 87 were male (25.4%) and 255 were female (74.6%).
Popularity
Nickola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nickola from the 1940s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 48 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Nickola remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nickola 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 Nickola 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 Nickola
The name Nickola has its origins in the Greek language, derived from the word "nikolaos," which means "victory of the people." It is a masculine name that has been in use for centuries, with its earliest recorded instances dating back to ancient Greece.
The name gained widespread popularity during the Byzantine era, particularly among Christians who associated it with the figure of Saint Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra (modern-day Turkey). Saint Nicholas was revered for his generosity and became the inspiration for the legendary figure of Santa Claus.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Nickola was Nikolas of Damascus, a Greek philosopher and historian who lived during the 1st century BC. He is best known for his work "Universal History," which chronicled events from the Trojan War to his own time.
In the Middle Ages, the name Nickola was particularly common in parts of Eastern Europe, including Russia and the Balkans. One of the most renowned figures from this period was Nickola Milescu, a 17th-century Moldavian scholar, traveler, and diplomat who played a significant role in fostering cultural and diplomatic ties between Eastern and Western Europe.
During the Renaissance, the name Nickola saw a resurgence in popularity, especially in Italy. One notable figure was Nickola Machiavelli, the 15th-century Florentine philosopher, politician, and writer, best known for his influential work "The Prince."
In more recent times, the name Nickola has been associated with several influential figures in various fields. One such individual was Nickola Tesla, the Serbian-American inventor and engineer who made groundbreaking contributions to the fields of electricity and electromagnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Another notable bearer of the name was Nickola Chkhetiani, a 20th-century Georgian artist and painter who played a significant role in the development of the avant-garde art movement in his country.
While the name Nickola has its roots in ancient Greek culture, it has been embraced and adapted by various cultures around the world, each adding their unique linguistic and cultural influences to its meaning and significance.
People
Nickola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nickola 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
Nickola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nickola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 106 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nickola 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 3,233,531 US residents.
Is Nickola a common name?
We classify Nickola as "Very Rare". It ranks above 65.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 136 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nickola most popular?
The single biggest year for Nickola was 1972, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nickola is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nickola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 346 people with the name Nickola, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #26,749 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 Nickola 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 Nickola?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nickola on both sides of the split. Of the 342 people counted with this name, 87 were male (25.4%) and 255 were female (74.6%). 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 Nickola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nickola is White at 64.5%. The next largest groups are Black (26.3%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Nickola most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nickola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.5% (223 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 Nickola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nickola a female name?
Yes, 96.3% of people registered as Nickola in the SSA data are female. 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 Nickola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nickola 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 Nickola 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 share the name Nickola?
You can see how many people have the name Nickola on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.