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Boy's name · #112 in the US (2025) · 90s wave
Nicholas's best rank, #5, came in 1999; it has stepped well back to #112 today. Roughly 926,000 boys have been named Nicholas since 1880. In all that time it has never once missed a year of the national records.
See where Nicholas is more common.
Appears in 2020-2025 birth records of 49 states. See the full state-by-state map on this page.
See how Nicholas ranks in other countries and regions.
#162 in Sweden (2025) · #196 in Scotland (2025) · #204 in Ireland (2025) · #214 in England & Wales (2025) · #325 in Norway (2025) · #409 in Poland (2025) · #417 in New Zealand (2025) · #699 in Austria (2025) · #780 in Switzerland (2025) · #1,164 in Belgium (2025) · #141 in Canada (2024).
Among 3,187 notable people named Nicholas:
Lawyers & judges appear 1.65× more often than among typical names — e.g. Nicholas Katzenbach, American lawyer (1922–2012).
Popular twin pairings with Nicholas include Alexander, Nathan, and Christopher for boys, and Sophia for a girl.
Together with its spelling variants Nicolas (#177) and Nikolas (#719), Nicholas would rank around #54 with about 5,500 births last year — the newborns split about 56/37/7 across Nicholas, Nicolas, and Nikolas.
About 2,400 boys a year are given Cole as their full name, 1,600 Nico, 1,100 Colin, and 130 Nick.
Similar names: Nicolas · Austin · Niko · Christian · Carlos · Adrian
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