Nickolai
Variation of the Greek name Nicholas, meaning "victory of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 517 living Americans carry the first name Nickolai. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nickolai today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nickolai births was 2015 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nickolai. 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
517
~ 1 in 662,968 Americans
Peak year
2015
31 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,573
Tracked since 1976
Census
Nickolai in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 539 people with the first name Nickolai, which placed it at #19,554 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
#19,554
National first-name rank
People counted
539
539 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nickolai
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nickolai is White at 65.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Black (6.9%). 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 Nickolai 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 Nickolai at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.9% · 355
- Hispanic or Latino16.1% · 87
- Black or African American6.9% · 37
- Two or more races6.3% · 34
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.2% · 17
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 9
Popularity
Nickolai: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nickolai from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 213 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nickolai remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nickolai 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 Nickolai during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nickolais live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nickolai
The given name Nickolai has its origins in the Greek name Nikolaos, which is derived from the elements niko, meaning "victory," and laos, meaning "people." Essentially, the name translates to "victory of the people." The name gained widespread popularity during the spread of Christianity and can be found in various ancient texts and records from the Byzantine Empire and Eastern Orthodox Churches.
In the 4th century AD, the name gained significant religious significance due to its association with Saint Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra, who was renowned for his generosity and kindness. His feast day on December 6th became a widely celebrated occasion, further promoting the name's popularity.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Nickolai can be traced back to the 9th century, particularly in areas with strong Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions, such as Russia, Bulgaria, and Serbia. It became a common name among the Russian nobility and royalty, with notable historical figures including Nickolai Gogol (1809-1852), the renowned Russian novelist and playwright.
Another prominent figure bearing the name was Nickolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), a highly influential Russian composer known for his orchestral works and operas, which were instrumental in shaping Russian classical music. His compositions, such as Scheherazade and Capriccio Espagnol, are considered masterpieces of the Romantic era.
In the realm of science, Nickolai Vavilov (1887-1943) was a prominent Russian botanist and geneticist who made significant contributions to the study of plant genetics and the origins of cultivated crops. His theories and research laid the foundation for modern plant breeding techniques.
During the Russian Revolution, Nickolai Bukharin (1888-1938) was a influential Bolshevik revolutionary and intellectual who played a prominent role in the early years of the Soviet Union. He served as the editor of the Soviet newspaper Pravda and held various leadership positions within the Communist Party.
Another notable figure was Nickolai Yezhov (1895-1940), a Soviet secret police official who headed the NKVD (People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs) during the Great Purge of the late 1930s. He was responsible for overseeing the mass arrests and executions of countless individuals during this period of political repression.
People
Nickolai + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nickolai 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
Nickolai: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nickolai?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 517 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nickolai 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 662,968 US residents.
Is Nickolai a common name?
We classify Nickolai as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 523 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nickolai most popular?
The single biggest year for Nickolai was 2015, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nickolai is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nickolai in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 539 people with the name Nickolai, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,554 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 Nickolai 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 Nickolai?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nickolai appears almost entirely male. Of the 540 people counted with this name, 99.4% 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 Nickolai?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nickolai is White at 65.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Black (6.9%). 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 Nickolai most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nickolai in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.9% (355 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 Nickolai in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nickolai a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nickolai 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 Nickolai still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nickolai 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 Nickolai 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 common is the name Nickolai?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.