Nicolau
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "victor of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 10 living Americans carry the first name Nicolau. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nicolau today is around 6 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nicolau births was 2018 (5 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nicolau. 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 Nicolau with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Nicolau. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
10
~ 1 in 34,275,434 Americans
Peak year
2018
5 babies that year
Average age
6
years old
2023 SSA rank
#13,575
Tracked since 2018
Census
Nicolau in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 130 people with the first name Nicolau, which placed it at #48,722 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
#48,722
National first-name rank
People counted
130
130 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
51.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nicolau
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nicolau is White at 51.5%. The next largest groups are Black (31.5%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Nicolau 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 Nicolau at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White51.5% · 67
- Black or African American31.5% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 11
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 6
- Two or more races3.8% · 5
Popularity
Nicolau: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nicolau from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 5 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nicolau 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 Nicolau 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 Nicolau
The given name Nicolau has its origins in the Greek language and culture, tracing back to ancient times. It is derived from the Greek name Nikolaos, which means "victory of the people." The name is a combination of the Greek words "nikē," meaning "victory," and "laos," meaning "people."
In the early centuries of Christianity, the name gained popularity due to its association with Saint Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra, who was known for his generosity and kindness towards children. The name Nicolau appears in various ancient manuscripts and records related to the life and veneration of Saint Nicholas.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nicolau can be found in the 11th-century Codex Calixtinus, a medieval manuscript that documents the life of Saint James the Great and the pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The manuscript mentions a pilgrim named Nicolau who made the journey to the holy site.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nicolau. Among them is Nicolau de Cusa (1401-1464), a German philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer known for his contributions to the Renaissance era. Another prominent figure is Nicolau Copernicus (1473-1543), the Polish astronomer who formulated the heliocentric model of the solar system, revolutionizing our understanding of the universe.
In the realm of art, Nicolau Poussin (1594-1665) was a renowned French painter and a leading figure of the classical tradition. His works, such as "Et in Arcadia Ego" and "The Burial of Phocion," are widely celebrated for their technical mastery and symbolic depth.
Moving to the world of literature, Nicolau Maquiavel (1469-1527), better known as Niccolò Machiavelli, was an Italian Renaissance philosopher, historian, and political theorist whose influential work "The Prince" laid the foundations for modern political thought and the concept of realpolitik.
Another notable figure is Nicolau Copérnico (1473-1543), the Polish astronomer whose groundbreaking work "De revolutionibus orbium coelestium" (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) proposed the heliocentric model of the solar system, challenging the long-held geocentric view of the universe.
These are just a few examples of the many prominent individuals throughout history who have carried the name Nicolau, reflecting its enduring legacy across various fields and cultures.
People
Nicolau + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nicolau 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
Nicolau: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nicolau?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 10 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nicolau 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 34,275,434 US residents.
Is Nicolau a common name?
We classify Nicolau as "Very Rare". It ranks above 28.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nicolau most popular?
The single biggest year for Nicolau was 2018, when 5 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nicolau is about 6 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nicolau in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 130 people with the name Nicolau, or 0.04 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #48,722 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 Nicolau 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 Nicolau?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nicolau appears almost entirely male. Of the 131 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Nicolau?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nicolau is White at 51.5%. The next largest groups are Black (31.5%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Nicolau most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nicolau in the 2020 Census, accounting for 51.5% (67 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 Nicolau in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nicolau a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nicolau 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 Nicolau still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nicolau 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 Nicolau 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 Americans are named Nicolau?
Want to know how many people share the name Nicolau? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.