Nickoli
A masculine name of Russian origin meaning "victory of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 280 living Americans carry the first name Nickoli. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nickoli today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nickoli births was 2009 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nickoli. 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
280
~ 1 in 1,224,123 Americans
Peak year
2009
20 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,884
Tracked since 1988
Census
Nickoli in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 292 people with the first name Nickoli, which placed it at #30,039 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
#30,039
National first-name rank
People counted
292
292 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nickoli
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nickoli is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Two or More Races (9.2%). 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 Nickoli 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 Nickoli at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.4% · 191
- Hispanic or Latino16.1% · 47
- Two or more races9.2% · 27
- Black or African American8.2% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 2
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 1
Popularity
Nickoli: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nickoli from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 118 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nickoli 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 Nickoli 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 Nickoli
Nickoli is a masculine given name with origins in Eastern Europe, particularly Russia and neighboring Slavic countries. The name is derived from the Greek name Nikolaos, which means "victor of the people." It is a variant of the more common Nicholas or Nikolai.
The name Nikolaos has its roots in ancient Greek culture, with the earliest recorded instances dating back to the 3rd century BC. The name gained widespread popularity after Saint Nicholas, the 4th-century Bishop of Myra, whose legendary generosity and kindness toward children led to the modern-day Santa Claus tradition.
One of the earliest known bearers of the name Nickoli was Nickoli Turgenev, a Russian statesman and playwright who lived from 1789 to 1857. He was a prominent figure in the literary circles of 19th-century Russia and is remembered for his contributions to Russian theatre and literature.
Another notable Nickoli was Nickoli Rimsky-Korsakov, a Russian composer who lived from 1844 to 1908. He is renowned for his orchestral works, including the highly acclaimed operas "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" and "The Golden Cockerel."
In the realm of science, Nickoli Tesla, the Serbian-American inventor and electrical engineer born in 1856, is widely celebrated for his groundbreaking contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electrical supply system. His work laid the foundations for many of the technologies we rely on today.
Nickoli Gogol, the Ukrainian-born Russian novelist and dramatist (1809-1852), is considered one of the most influential figures in Russian literature. His works, such as "Dead Souls" and "The Overcoat," are celebrated for their satirical depictions of 19th-century Russian society.
Lastly, Nickoli Bukharin, a Russian Marxist revolutionary and intellectual who lived from 1888 to 1938, played a prominent role in the Bolshevik government during the early years of the Soviet Union. He was later executed during Joseph Stalin's Great Purge.
People
Nickoli + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nickoli 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
Nickoli: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nickoli?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 280 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nickoli 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 1,224,123 US residents.
Is Nickoli a common name?
We classify Nickoli as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 283 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nickoli most popular?
The single biggest year for Nickoli was 2009, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nickoli is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nickoli in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 292 people with the name Nickoli, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #30,039 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 Nickoli 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 Nickoli?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nickoli leans strongly male. 286 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 5 female bearers (1.7%). 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 Nickoli?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nickoli is White at 65.4%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (16.1%) and Two or More Races (9.2%). 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 Nickoli most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nickoli in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.4% (191 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 Nickoli in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nickoli a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nickoli 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 Nickoli still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nickoli 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 Nickoli 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 Nickoli as a first name?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Nickoli, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.