Nicholaus
Nicholaus was given to 5 boys in 2025, #13,328 among boys’ names; 3,260 Americans have been recorded with it since 1950 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,090 Americans named Nicholaus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 36 years old and half are between 28 and 44.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nicholaus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Nicholaus?
#13,328 among boys’ names, 2025
Nicholaus fell from #9,312 in 2015 to #13,328 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 4.2 to 2.9 per million.
168 babies in 1981, the peak
Nicholaus peaked in 1981, when 168 boys were given it, #662 among boys’ names. The 5 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5 | #13,328 | 2.9 |
| 2024 | 11 | #7,604 | 6.4 |
| 2023 | 6 | #11,843 | 3.5 |
| 2022 | 7 | #10,538 | 4.0 |
| 2020 | 9 | #8,526 | 5.2 |
| 2019 | 11 | #7,477 | 6.1 |
| 2018 | 8 | #9,404 | 4.4 |
| 2017 | 14 | #6,240 | 7.6 |
| 2016 | 14 | #6,245 | 7.4 |
| 2015 | 8 | #9,312 | 4.2 |
Every recorded year (61)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 6 | #11,709 | 3.1 |
| 2013 | 9 | #8,569 | 4.8 |
| 2012 | 22 | #4,486 | 11.6 |
| 2011 | 16 | #5,595 | 8.4 |
| 2010 | 16 | #5,658 | 8.3 |
| 2009 | 19 | #5,051 | 9.6 |
| 2008 | 39 | #3,046 | 19.1 |
| 2007 | 38 | #3,066 | 18.3 |
| 2006 | 45 | #2,646 | 21.9 |
| 2005 | 45 | #2,511 | 22.5 |
| 2004 | 38 | #2,773 | 19.1 |
| 2003 | 41 | #2,535 | 20.8 |
| 2002 | 56 | #1,988 | 28.8 |
| 2001 | 62 | #1,805 | 31.9 |
| 2000 | 85 | #1,455 | 43.3 |
| 1999 | 88 | #1,361 | 45.8 |
| 1998 | 78 | #1,454 | 40.8 |
| 1997 | 87 | #1,312 | 46.2 |
| 1996 | 82 | #1,327 | 43.3 |
| 1995 | 104 | #1,120 | 54.6 |
| 1994 | 102 | #1,119 | 52.8 |
| 1993 | 102 | #1,107 | 52.0 |
| 1992 | 116 | #1,010 | 58.1 |
| 1991 | 105 | #1,055 | 52.0 |
| 1990 | 105 | #1,032 | 51.1 |
| 1989 | 104 | #1,004 | 52.0 |
| 1988 | 75 | #1,167 | 39.2 |
| 1987 | 80 | #1,071 | 42.8 |
| 1986 | 119 | #832 | 64.6 |
| 1985 | 102 | #899 | 55.2 |
| 1984 | 114 | #822 | 63.2 |
| 1983 | 107 | #847 | 59.7 |
| 1982 | 133 | #763 | 73.3 |
| 1981 | 168 | #662 | 93.8 |
| 1980 | 153 | #703 | 85.8 |
| 1979 | 167 | #662 | 97.0 |
| 1978 | 130 | #745 | 79.2 |
| 1977 | 44 | #1,387 | 26.8 |
| 1976 | 18 | #2,476 | 11.5 |
| 1975 | 25 | #1,927 | 16.0 |
| 1974 | 18 | #2,330 | 11.4 |
| 1973 | 20 | #2,099 | 12.8 |
| 1972 | 13 | #2,771 | 8.0 |
| 1971 | 20 | #2,098 | 11.3 |
| 1970 | 7 | #4,110 | 3.8 |
| 1969 | 13 | #2,511 | 7.3 |
| 1968 | 6 | #3,997 | 3.5 |
| 1967 | 5 | #4,374 | 2.9 |
| 1962 | 6 | #3,905 | 2.9 |
| 1957 | 5 | #4,375 | 2.3 |
| 1950 | 9 | #2,714 | 5.0 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Nicholaus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nicholaus has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 61 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Nicholaus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nicholaus, and how old are they?
3,090 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 3,260 Americans ever recorded as Nicholaus. The median Nicholaus alive today is 36 years old; half are between 28 and 44.
The 2020 Census counted 2,317 people named Nicholaus (2 women and girls, 2,315 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,104 born in the U.S. The Census count is 25% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 13 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 584 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,630 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 760 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 107 |
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 Nicholaus born?
The states with the most babies named Nicholaus are California, Texas and Illinois, with 60% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 461 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 199 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 93 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Washington | 76 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Florida | 63 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Missouri | 50 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 47 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 46 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Wisconsin | 38 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Arizona | 25 | not ranked | 0.4× |
Where Nicholaus is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nicholaus is most over-represented in California: since 1950 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 boys’ 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 Nicholaus 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 8 names spelled alike, given to 936,641 babies since 1880, Nicholaus is the second most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 5 of their 3,128 babies (<1%), again the second most given.
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 Nicholaus
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 Nicholaus and names like it
- Compare Nicholaus and NicholasBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sNicholaus peaked in 1981.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nicholaus since 1910.
- The top names of 1981The year the most babies were named Nicholaus.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Nicholaus alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with NMost given first.