Nikolaos
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "victory of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 1,963 living Americans carry the first name Nikolaos. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nikolaos today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nikolaos births was 2014 (57 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nikolaos. 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 Nikolaos with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
2.0K
~ 1 in 174,607 Americans
Peak year
2014
57 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,772
Tracked since 1962
Census
Nikolaos in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,823 people with the first name Nikolaos, which placed it at #5,873 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
#5,873
National first-name rank
People counted
2.8K
2,823 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.9
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
93.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nikolaos
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nikolaos is White at 93.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Nikolaos 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 Nikolaos at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White93.9% · 2,650
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 96
- Two or more races1.8% · 50
- Black or African American0.6% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Nikolaos: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nikolaos from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 447 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nikolaos remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nikolaos 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 Nikolaos during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nikolaos' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. New York, California, Illinois recorded the most babies named Nikolaos, while Connecticut, Ohio, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 78 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nikolaos
Nikolaos is a masculine given name of Greek origin, derived from the words "nikos" meaning "victory" and "laos" meaning "people." The name can be translated as "victor of the people" or "victorious among the people."
The name has its roots in ancient Greek culture and can be traced back to the 5th century BC. It was a popular name among the ancient Greeks and was often associated with military prowess and leadership qualities.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name can be found in the writings of the Greek historian Thucydides, who mentions a Nikolaos of Syracuse in his work "The Peloponnesian War." The name also appears in various ancient Greek inscriptions and texts.
In the Christian tradition, the name gained significance due to its association with Saint Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra (in present-day Turkey) and the inspiration for the modern-day Santa Claus. Saint Nicholas was known for his generosity and kindness, particularly towards children.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nikolaos, including:
1. Nikolaos of Damascus (c. 64 BC - c. 4 BC), a Greek philosopher, historian, and tutor to the Roman emperor Augustus.
2. Nikolaos Mouzalon (c. 1265 - c. 1315), a Byzantine scholar and philosopher who served as the chief minister to the Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos.
3. Nikolaos Kabasilas (c. 1322 - c. 1392), a Byzantine theologian and mystic who wrote extensively on the liturgy and sacraments of the Eastern Orthodox Church.
4. Nikolaos Mavrokordatos (1670 - 1730), a Greek scholar, diplomat, and Prince of Wallachia (a historical region in present-day Romania).
5. Nikolaos Kalogeropoulos (1851 - 1927), a Greek military officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Greece from 1916 to 1917.
The name Nikolaos continues to be popular in various forms across different cultures and languages, such as Nicholas in English, Nicolás in Spanish, and Nicola in Italian, reflecting the widespread influence of Greek culture and the enduring appeal of this historic name.
People
Nikolaos + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nikolaos 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
Nikolaos: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nikolaos?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,963 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nikolaos 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 174,607 US residents.
Is Nikolaos a common name?
We classify Nikolaos as "Rare". It ranks above 93.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,020 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nikolaos most popular?
The single biggest year for Nikolaos was 2014, when 57 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nikolaos is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nikolaos in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,823 people with the name Nikolaos, or 0.93 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,873 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 Nikolaos 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 Nikolaos?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nikolaos appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,824 people counted with this name, 99.8% 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 Nikolaos?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nikolaos is White at 93.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.4%) and Two or More Races (1.8%). 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 Nikolaos most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nikolaos in the 2020 Census, accounting for 93.9% (2,650 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 Nikolaos in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nikolaos a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nikolaos 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 Nikolaos still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nikolaos 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 Nikolaos 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 Nikolaos as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.