Nicolae
A masculine name derived from Greek meaning "victorious people".
Name Census estimates that about 171 living Americans carry the first name Nicolae. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nicolae today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nicolae births was 2010 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nicolae. 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 Nicolae with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
171
~ 1 in 2,004,411 Americans
Peak year
2010
18 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,565
Tracked since 2003
Census
Nicolae in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,322 people with the first name Nicolae, which placed it at #10,181 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
#10,181
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,322 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
94.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nicolae
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nicolae is White at 94.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.4%) and Two or More Races (1.1%). 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 Nicolae 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 Nicolae at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White94.9% · 1,254
- Hispanic or Latino2.4% · 32
- Two or more races1.1% · 14
- Black or African American0.9% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.6% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 2
Popularity
Nicolae: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nicolae from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 76 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nicolae remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nicolae 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 Nicolae 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 Nicolae
Nicolae is a masculine given name derived from the Greek name Nikolaos, which is a compound of the words "niko" meaning "victory" and "laos" meaning "people". It is the Romanian form of the name Nicholas, and has been a popular name in Romania and other Eastern European countries for centuries.
The name can be traced back to the 3rd century AD, when Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children and sailors, lived in Myra, a city in modern-day Turkey. The name gained widespread popularity in the Christian world due to the veneration of Saint Nicholas, and it became a common name in many cultures influenced by Christianity.
In the Byzantine Empire, the name was used by several emperors, including Nicolae I Caulchinas (876-912) and Nicolae II Opheliates (912-925). During the Middle Ages, the name was also popular among the nobility in various Eastern European countries, such as Romania, Bulgaria, and Serbia.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Nicolae in Romania dates back to the 14th century, when Nicolae Alexandru, the son of the Voivode of Wallachia, was mentioned in historical documents. In the 15th century, Nicolae Redwitz, a Romanian nobleman, served as the Chancellor of Moldavia.
Over the centuries, several notable figures have borne the name Nicolae. Here are five examples:
1. Nicolae Iorga (1871-1940), a Romanian historian, playwright, and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania from 1931 to 1932.
2. Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918-1989), the former Communist leader of Romania who ruled the country with an iron fist from 1965 to 1989.
3. Nicolae Grigorescu (1838-1907), a Romanian painter and one of the founders of modern Romanian art.
4. Nicolae Paulescu (1869-1931), a Romanian physiologist and the discoverer of insulin, though his work was overshadowed by the more famous discoveries of Frederick Banting and Charles Best.
5. Nicolae Titulescu (1882-1941), a Romanian diplomat and politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and represented Romania at the League of Nations.
The name Nicolae has remained a popular choice in Romania and other Eastern European countries, reflecting its rich cultural heritage and historical significance.
People
Nicolae + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nicolae 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
Nicolae: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nicolae?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 171 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nicolae 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 2,004,411 US residents.
Is Nicolae a common name?
We classify Nicolae as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 173 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nicolae most popular?
The single biggest year for Nicolae was 2010, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nicolae is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nicolae in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,322 people with the name Nicolae, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,181 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 Nicolae 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 Nicolae?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nicolae leans strongly male. 1,295 people counted with this name were male (98.9%), compared with 14 female bearers (1.1%). 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 Nicolae?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nicolae is White at 94.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (2.4%) and Two or More Races (1.1%). 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 Nicolae most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nicolae in the 2020 Census, accounting for 94.9% (1,254 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 Nicolae in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nicolae a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nicolae 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 Nicolae still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nicolae 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 Nicolae 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 the name Nicolae?
See how many Americans are named Nicolae on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.