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

Nikolich, 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 Nikolich surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Nikolich in America

Nikolich is the 51176th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Nikolich surname appeared 407 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 Nikolich.

We can also compare 2010 data for Nikolich 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 Nikolich

The surname NIKOLICH originated in Serbia and is of Serbian origin. It is a patronymic surname derived from the personal name Nikola, which is the Serbian form of the Greek name Nikolaos, meaning "victor of the people".

The name likely emerged in the 13th or 14th century, during the time of the Serbian Empire and the reign of the Nemanjić dynasty. It is believed to have originated in the regions of central and southern Serbia, where the name was most prevalent.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the NIKOLICH surname can be found in the Dečani Chrysobull, a 14th-century charter issued by the Serbian king Stefan Uroš III Dečanski, which mentions a certain Nikolich among the landowners in the area.

In the 15th century, during the Ottoman conquest of Serbia, many Serbs fled to neighboring regions, leading to the spread of the NIKOLICH surname across the Balkans and beyond.

Notable individuals with the NIKOLICH surname include:

1. Jovan Nikolich (1676-1748), a Serbian scholar and educator who founded one of the first Serbian schools in Sremski Karlovci.
2. Đorđe Nikolich (1807-1888), a Serbian painter and lithographer, considered one of the pioneers of modern Serbian art.
3. Nikola Nikolich (1843-1899), a Serbian writer and journalist, known for his contributions to the development of Serbian realism.
4. Milan Nikolich (1876-1942), a Serbian military officer who played a significant role in the Balkan Wars and World War I.
5. Velibor Nikolich (born 1958), a Serbian chess grandmaster and former world champion in solving chess compositions.

The NIKOLICH surname has also been associated with various place names in Serbia, such as Nikolichevo and Nikoličani, which likely derived their names from early settlers bearing the NIKOLICH surname.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Nikolich

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

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

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

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