Nikolai

What Nikolai means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Nikolai yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1960, with 6 babies Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Nikolai?

US: Falling: down from #474 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #1442 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2021, when 622 boys got the name (#480 that year). First in the US records in 1960.

How common

• About 1 in 3,642 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 11,823 baby boys in England and Wales 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 NM (1.23 per 1,000 boys), NE (0.79 per 1,000 boys), CT (0.53 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

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

US vs UK

Nikolai is #605 in the US and #1226 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 Nikolai were boys.

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

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Nikola102 US · 13 E&W
• Nicolai51 US · 3 E&W
• Nicola28 US · 3 E&W
• Nikolay14 US · 7 E&W
• Nickolai10 US
• Nicolae0 US · 6 E&W
• Nikoli6 US
• Nicolau0 US · 4 E&W

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 Nikolai

Boys

• Greyson#149Variant of Grayson, meaning “steward”^*
• Knox#196“round hill”^*
• Ryker#182Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #182 vs #1,066 in 2025
• Grayson#51“steward”^*
• Silas#71Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #71 vs #585 in 2025
• Henry#5Editor’s note Up from #29 in 2015 to #5 in 2025 in the US. About 1 in 140 US boys in the 2025 records

For a sister

• Kinsley#93“Royal (a man's name) + s + woodland clearing”^*
• Lucille#237Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1920, with 7,989 babies; 1,314 in 2025
• Penelope#22possibly “duck”^*
• Harper#16From a surname for “a player of the harp”^*
• Emery#74Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #74 vs #1,197 in 2025
• Charlotte#2Form of Charles, meaning “free man”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Nikolai’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.