Nikita
Meaning "unconquered", a Russian masculine name of ultimately Greek origin.
Name Census estimates that about 13,009 living Americans carry the first name Nikita. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 78.9% of registrations being female. The average person named Nikita today is around 32 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nikita births was 1986 (1,066 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nikita. 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 Nikita with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,347 Americans
Peak year
1986
1,066 babies that year
Average age
32
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,430
Tracked since 1949
Census
Nikita in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 15,063 people with the first name Nikita, which placed it at #1,895 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
#1,895
National first-name rank
People counted
15K
15,063 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
38.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nikita
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nikita is White at 38.9%. The next largest groups are Black (27.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (24.8%). 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 Nikita 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 Nikita at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White38.9% · 5,852
- Black or African American27.1% · 4,083
- Asian and Pacific Islander24.8% · 3,729
- Two or more races4.5% · 685
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 597
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 117
Gender
Gender distribution for Nikita
Nikita is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 13,610 total registrations, 2,865 (21.1%) were male and 10,745 (78.9%) were female.
Nikita as a male name
- Ranked #3,430 in 2024
- 34 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2008 (117 births)
Nikita as a female name
- Ranked #4,431 in 2024
- 32 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1986 (1,034 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nikita on both sides of the split. Of the 15,067 people counted with this name, 3,938 were male (26.1%) and 11,129 were female (73.9%).
Popularity
Nikita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nikita from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 3,546 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nikita 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 Nikita during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nikitas live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. California, New York, Florida recorded the most babies named Nikita, while Vermont, Nevada, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 218 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nikita
The name Nikita is of Russian origin, derived from the Greek name Niketas, which itself comes from the word "niketes" meaning "victor" or "conqueror". This name gained popularity during the Middle Ages in Russia and other Eastern European countries that followed the Eastern Orthodox Christian tradition.
One of the earliest recorded references to the name Nikita can be found in the Byzantine Empire, where it was borne by several notable figures, including Niketas Ooryphas, a renowned military commander in the 11th century. In Russia, the name Nikita became widespread after the adoption of Christianity in the late 10th century.
Throughout Russian history, several prominent individuals have borne this name. One of the most famous was Nikita Ivanovich Panin (1718-1783), a highly influential statesman and diplomat during the reign of Catherine the Great. Another notable figure was Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971), the former leader of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, known for his policy of de-Stalinization and his role in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
In the realm of literature, the name Nikita is associated with the Russian writer Nikita Vyshnegradsky (1920-1998), whose works explored themes of spirituality and existentialism. In the world of sports, Nikita Kucherov (born 1993) is a prominent Russian professional ice hockey player who currently plays for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the National Hockey League (NHL).
The name Nikita has also been borne by several notable figures in the arts, such as Nikita Mikhalkov (born 1945), a renowned Russian filmmaker and actor who has won numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1995 for his movie "Burnt by the Sun".
While the name Nikita has its roots in Eastern Orthodox Christian traditions, it has transcended cultural boundaries and gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly in countries with significant Russian or Eastern European communities.
People
Nikita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nikita 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
Nikita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nikita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,009 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nikita 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 26,347 US residents.
Is Nikita a common name?
We classify Nikita as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,610 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nikita most popular?
The single biggest year for Nikita was 1986, when 1,066 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nikita is about 32 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nikita in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 15,063 people with the name Nikita, or 4.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,895 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 Nikita 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 Nikita?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nikita on both sides of the split. Of the 15,067 people counted with this name, 3,938 were male (26.1%) and 11,129 were female (73.9%). 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 Nikita?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nikita is White at 38.9%. The next largest groups are Black (27.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (24.8%). 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 Nikita most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nikita in the 2020 Census, accounting for 38.9% (5,852 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 Nikita in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nikita a female name?
Yes, 78.9% of people registered as Nikita in the SSA data are female. 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 Nikita still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nikita 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 Nikita 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 Nikita?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.