Find out how popular the last name Nicolai is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Nicolai.

Nicolai, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Nicolai surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nicolai in America

Nicolai is the 14734th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nicolai surname appeared 2,017 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Nicolai.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nicolai to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Nicolai

The surname NICOLAI originated in Italy during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the medieval Italian given name Nicola, a variant of the name Nicholas which stems from the Greek name Nikolaos, meaning "victory of the people". The name Nicola was quite popular in Italy during this period.

The earliest recorded instances of the surname NICOLAI can be found in Italian birth records and tax rolls from the 13th and 14th centuries, particularly in the regions of Tuscany and Lombardy. In these early records, the name appeared with various spellings such as Nicolaj, Nicolay, and Nicholay.

One of the earliest known bearers of the surname NICOLAI was Bartolomeo Nicolai, a wealthy merchant from Florence who lived in the late 13th century. Records show that he owned several textile factories and was heavily involved in the city's prosperous wool trade.

In the 15th century, the name NICOLAI gained prominence through the work of Tommaso Nicolai, a renowned Italian physician and philosopher from Siena. Born in 1412, he authored numerous medical texts and served as the personal physician to Pope Pius II.

The NICOLAI surname also has ties to the Italian Renaissance. Giovan Battista Nicolai, born in 1546 in Venice, was a celebrated architect who designed several notable churches and palaces throughout Italy, including the Church of San Gregorio Armeno in Naples.

Another prominent figure with the NICOLAI surname was Cristoforo Nicolai, a 17th-century Italian composer and organist from Piacenza. He wrote numerous sacred works and served as the Kapellmeister at the court of the Duke of Modena.

In the 18th century, Antonio Nicolai, born in 1712 in Rome, became a renowned painter and engraver. His works were highly sought after by the Italian nobility, and several of his paintings can still be found in museums across Europe.

While the NICOLAI surname originated in Italy, it eventually spread to other parts of Europe, particularly to neighboring countries like Switzerland and Austria. However, the name's roots can be traced back to its Italian beginnings during the medieval and Renaissance periods.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nicolai

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Nicolai.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Nicolai was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Nicolai has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Nicolai was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Nicolai, please contact us.

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