Nichol
Nichol was last recorded in 2014, when 6 babies were given it; 2,922 Americans have been recorded with it between 1944 and 2014 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,780 Americans named Nichol and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 47 years old and half are between 42 and 52.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nichol by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nichol mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nichol is “a Scottish and Irish surname transferred from the given name derived from the given name Nicholas.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nichol?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #15,991, in 2014; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
195 babies in 1979, the peak
Nichol peaked in 1979, when 195 girls were given it, #811 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 6 | #15,991 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 5 | #19,395 | under 0.01 |
| 2008 | 9 | #12,325 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 5 | #19,703 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 8 | #13,278 | under 0.01 |
| 2005 | 7 | #14,091 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 7 | #13,433 | under 0.01 |
| 2002 | 7 | #13,235 | under 0.01 |
| 2001 | 8 | #11,754 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 13 | #7,906 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (47)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 15 | #6,749 | 0.01 |
| 1998 | 19 | #5,518 | 0.01 |
| 1997 | 24 | #4,473 | 0.01 |
| 1996 | 22 | #4,694 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 12 | #7,377 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 22 | #4,644 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 25 | #4,202 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 41 | #2,900 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 33 | #3,342 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 55 | #2,302 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 55 | #2,208 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 63 | #1,942 | 0.04 |
| 1987 | 52 | #2,117 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 73 | #1,634 | 0.04 |
| 1985 | 121 | #1,176 | 0.07 |
| 1984 | 87 | #1,367 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 106 | #1,211 | 0.06 |
| 1982 | 143 | #1,027 | 0.08 |
| 1981 | 105 | #1,244 | 0.06 |
| 1980 | 166 | #910 | 0.10 |
| 1979 | 195 | #811 | 0.12 |
| 1978 | 161 | #897 | 0.11 |
| 1977 | 133 | #1,011 | 0.09 |
| 1976 | 137 | #938 | 0.09 |
| 1975 | 122 | #1,004 | 0.08 |
| 1974 | 118 | #1,020 | 0.08 |
| 1973 | 151 | #856 | 0.10 |
| 1972 | 182 | #765 | 0.12 |
| 1971 | 114 | #1,060 | 0.07 |
| 1970 | 115 | #1,065 | 0.07 |
| 1969 | 85 | #1,211 | 0.05 |
| 1968 | 30 | #2,227 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 16 | #3,289 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 8 | #5,143 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 9 | #4,732 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 5 | #7,479 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 5 | #5,060 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Nichol a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nichol has been given almost only to girls: 22 boys in 47 years of records.
Girls and boys named Nichol: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nichol, and how old are they?
2,780 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 2,922 Americans ever recorded as Nichol. The median Nichol alive today is 47 years old; half are between 42 and 52.
The 2020 Census counted 2,979 people named Nichol (2,857 women and girls, 122 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,816 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 3 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,660 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 983 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 125 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 6 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Nichol born?
The states with the most babies named Nichol are California, Ohio and Pennsylvania, with 46% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 378 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 157 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 139 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 122 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| New York | 118 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 111 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Florida | 51 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Texas | 51 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Wisconsin | 50 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Minnesota | 47 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Nichol is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nichol is most over-represented in California: since 1944 it was given 1.1 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Nichol with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 3,516 babies since 1880, Nichol is the most given (83% of them).
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Nichol
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Nichol and names like it
- Compare Nichol and NickolBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sNichol peaked in 1979.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nichol since 1910.
- The top names of 1979The year the most babies were named Nichol.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Nichol alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with NMost given first.