Nicolas

What Nicolas means

Variant of Nicholas, meaning “victory + people”

variant of Nicholas || From Middle English Nicholas, from Old French Nicholas, from Latin Nīcolāus, from Ancient Greek Νικόλαος (Nikólaos), from νίκη (níkē, “victory”) +‎ λαός (laós, “people”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Nicolas” (revision 94542079) and “Nicholas” (revision 94542075), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Nicolas?

US: Rising: up from #202 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #276 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1998, when 2,920 boys got the name (#132 that year). First in the US records in 1882.

How common

• About 1 in 832 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,365 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 1,964 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DC (2.37 per 1,000 boys), CA (2.29 per 1,000 boys), NJ (2.26 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Nicolas is #177 in the US and #363 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Nicolas were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Nikolas375 US · 52 E&W
• Nickolas118 US
• Nikolaos51 US · 15 E&W
• Nikolaus24 US
• Nicolaas6 US
• Nikkolas6 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Nicolas

Boys

• Angel#67Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #67 vs #1,307 in 2025
• Cristian#362Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #362 vs #1,197 in 2025
• Alexis#513“helper, defender”^*
• Fabian#468“belonging to Fabius”^*
• Gabriel#37Finnish, meaning “God is my strong man, God is my hero”^*
• Dominick#622Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2003, with 1,780 babies; 448 in 2025

For a sister

• Serena#325“serene”^*
• Clare#924“bright, shining, clear”^*
• Julianna#398Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #190 in 2015, #398 in 2025
• Mya#443Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #146 in 2015, #443 in 2025
• Paulina#783“small”^*
• Mariana#260Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #260 vs #1,512 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, Latin, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Nicolas’s. Rank is US 2025.