Nickolaos
Victor or conqueror of people, from Greek.
Name Census estimates that about 143 living Americans carry the first name Nickolaos. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nickolaos today is around 46 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nickolaos births was 1977 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nickolaos. 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
143
~ 1 in 2,396,883 Americans
Peak year
1977
13 babies that year
Average age
46
years old
1990 SSA rank
#7,816
Tracked since 1969
Census
Nickolaos in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 222 people with the first name Nickolaos, which placed it at #35,960 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
#35,960
National first-name rank
People counted
222
222 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
97.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nickolaos
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nickolaos is White at 97.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.4%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Nickolaos 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 Nickolaos at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White97.3% · 216
- Hispanic or Latino1.4% · 3
- Black or African American0.9% · 2
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 1
Popularity
Nickolaos: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nickolaos from the 1960s through to the 1990s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 71 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nickolaos 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 Nickolaos during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nickolaos' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nickolaos
Nickolaos is a masculine given name of Greek origin, derived from the Greek words "nikē" meaning "victory" and "laos" meaning "people". It is a variant spelling of the more common English name Nicholas, which has been popular since ancient times.
The name Nickolaos can be traced back to the 3rd century AD, when it was first recorded in ancient Greek texts. It is believed to have been derived from the name of the semi-legendary figure Saint Nicholas of Myra, a 4th-century Greek Christian bishop known for his generosity and kindness towards children.
In the Byzantine Empire, Nickolaos was a common name among the Greek nobility and ruling classes. Several Byzantine emperors bore the name, including Nikephoros I (reigned 802-811) and Nikephoros II Phokas (reigned 963-969).
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nickolaos is Nikephoros I, who was born around 758 AD and became the Byzantine Emperor in 802. He is known for his military campaigns against the Abbasid Caliphate and for his efforts to consolidate imperial authority.
Another notable figure with the name Nickolaos is Nikephoros Bryennios, a Byzantine historian and general who lived in the 11th century. He wrote the "Material for History" (Hylē Historians), a historical account of the reigns of several Byzantine emperors.
In the 13th century, Nikephoros Blemmydes was a renowned Greek scholar, theologian, and writer. He served as a high-ranking official in the Byzantine court and is known for his works on logic, philosophy, and theology.
During the Renaissance, Nicolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), the famous Italian philosopher, and political theorist, was a notable bearer of the name. His writings, such as "The Prince", had a significant influence on Western political thought.
Another historical figure with the name Nickolaos is Nikolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), the Polish mathematician and astronomer who formulated the heliocentric model of the solar system, revolutionizing our understanding of the universe.
People
Nickolaos + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nickolaos 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
Nickolaos: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nickolaos?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 143 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nickolaos 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 2,396,883 US residents.
Is Nickolaos a common name?
We classify Nickolaos as "Very Rare". It ranks above 69.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 152 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nickolaos most popular?
The single biggest year for Nickolaos was 1977, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nickolaos is about 46 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nickolaos in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 222 people with the name Nickolaos, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,960 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 Nickolaos 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 Nickolaos?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nickolaos leans strongly male. 223 people counted with this name were male (97.4%), compared with 6 female bearers (2.6%). 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 Nickolaos?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nickolaos is White at 97.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.4%) and Black (0.9%). 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 Nickolaos most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nickolaos in the 2020 Census, accounting for 97.3% (216 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 Nickolaos in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nickolaos a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nickolaos 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 Nickolaos still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nickolaos 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 Nickolaos 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 Nickolaos?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Nickolaos at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.