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

Nicolau, 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 Nicolau surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nicolau in America

Nicolau is the 53204th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nicolau surname appeared 389 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Nicolau.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nicolau 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 Nicolau

The surname NICOLAU originated from the medieval Latin personal name Nicolaus, which itself derived from the Greek name Nikolaos meaning "victory of the people". This name has its roots in the regions that are now parts of southern Italy and Greece, where it emerged sometime around the 12th century.

NICOLAU is the Catalan spelling variation of this surname that became established in areas like Catalonia in northeastern Spain, as well as parts of southern France near the Pyrenees mountains. The earliest known record of this spelling dates back to 1283 in the town of Girona, Spain, where a man named Pere Nicolau is mentioned in a local charter document.

In England, a similar Norman spelling Nicholls can be found in the famous Domesday Book compiled in 1086 for William the Conqueror, suggesting the name had already spread to other parts of Europe by that time. An early bearer in Italy was the Siennese artist Ugolino di Neri Nicolau who lived from around 1280 to 1349.

Perhaps the most renowned individual with this surname was the 15th century Portuguese explorer Pedro Álvares Cabral (c.1467-c.1520), who is credited as the first European to discover Brazil in 1500 during his voyage to India. Another notable bearer was the Catalan painter Bernat Nicolau (c.1700-1788) whose works can be seen in churches across Barcelona.

Other examples of this surname include the 19th century Spanish composer Joaquín Nicolau y Malian (1821-1878), as well as the more recent Catalan historian and author Josep Nicolau i Rubíó (1913-2007). The name Nicolau has also been linked to certain place names like the town of Son Nicolau on the Spanish island of Majorca.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nicolau

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

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 Nicolau 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 Nicolau 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 Nicolau was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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