Nicol
Nicol was given to 16 girls in 2025, #7,050 among girls’ names; 2,248 Americans have been recorded with it since 1956 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,150 Americans named Nicol and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 45 years old and half are between 23 and 54.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nicol by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Nicol?
#7,050 among girls’ names, 2025
Nicol fell from #5,978 in 2015 to #7,050 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 12.3 to 10.0 per million.
130 babies in 1970, the peak
Nicol peaked in 1970, when 130 babies were given it (125 girls, #1,006 among girls’ names). The 16 births of 2025 are 12% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 16 | #7,050 | 10.0 |
| 2024 | 22 | #5,740 | 13.6 |
| 2023 | 27 | #4,960 | 16.8 |
| 2022 | 21 | #5,926 | 12.8 |
| 2021 | 19 | #6,340 | 11.6 |
| 2020 | 14 | #7,847 | 8.7 |
| 2019 | 15 | #7,619 | 8.9 |
| 2018 | 15 | #7,655 | 8.8 |
| 2017 | 11 | #9,768 | 6.4 |
| 2016 | 16 | #7,509 | 9.0 |
Every recorded year (65)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 22 | #5,978 | 12.3 |
| 2014 | 25 | #5,421 | 14.0 |
| 2013 | 42 | #3,684 | 23.9 |
| 2012 | 24 | #5,672 | 13.6 |
| 2011 | 37 | #4,051 | 21.0 |
| 2010 | 32 | #4,575 | 18.0 |
| 2009 | 26 | #5,496 | 14.2 |
| 2008 | 28 | #5,238 | 14.8 |
| 2007 | 25 | #5,651 | 13.0 |
| 2006 | 31 | #4,654 | 16.3 |
| 2005 | 30 | #4,553 | 16.2 |
| 2004 | 39 | #3,725 | 21.2 |
| 2003 | 29 | #4,495 | 15.9 |
| 2002 | 36 | #3,704 | 20.0 |
| 2001 | 30 | #4,170 | 16.7 |
| 2000 | 32 | #3,953 | 17.6 |
| 1999 | 27 | #4,269 | 15.2 |
| 1998 | 24 | #4,591 | 13.6 |
| 1997 | 11 | #8,172 | 6.3 |
| 1996 | 17 | #5,703 | 9.7 |
| 1995 | 15 | #6,169 | 8.5 |
| 1994 | 14 | #6,551 | 7.8 |
| 1993 | 20 | #4,934 | 11.1 |
| 1992 | 21 | #4,800 | 11.4 |
| 1991 | 22 | #4,597 | 11.7 |
| 1990 | 15 | #6,040 | 7.9 |
| 1989 | 34 | #3,137 | 18.4 |
| 1988 | 23 | #3,978 | 12.9 |
| 1987 | 20 | #4,224 | 11.5 |
| 1986 | 22 | #3,842 | 12.8 |
| 1985 | 30 | #3,060 | 17.4 |
| 1984 | 18 | #4,274 | 10.7 |
| 1983 | 31 | #2,833 | 18.6 |
| 1982 | 37 | #2,567 | 21.9 |
| 1981 | 35 | #2,640 | 21.0 |
| 1980 | 45 | #2,238 | 27.1 |
| 1979 | 42 | #2,293 | 26.2 |
| 1978 | 63 | #1,683 | 41.1 |
| 1977 | 53 | #1,895 | 34.6 |
| 1976 | 68 | #1,519 | 46.4 |
| 1975 | 65 | #1,554 | 44.6 |
| 1974 | 87 | #1,258 | 59.3 |
| 1973 | 89 | #1,210 | 61.0 |
| 1972 | 114 | #1,027 | 74.9 |
| 1971 | 102 | #1,143 | 61.3 |
| 1970 | 125 | #1,006 | 71.5 |
| 1969 | 107 | #1,061 | 63.4 |
| 1968 | 52 | #1,602 | 31.7 |
| 1967 | 29 | #2,256 | 17.6 |
| 1966 | 29 | #2,233 | 17.1 |
| 1965 | 11 | #4,127 | 6.2 |
| 1964 | 17 | #3,201 | 9.0 |
| 1963 | 10 | #4,457 | 5.2 |
| 1962 | 7 | #5,690 | 3.6 |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,622 | 2.5 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Nicol a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,248 Americans recorded as Nicol, 99% are girls and 1% boys. In 2025 it went to 16 girls; SSA lists no boys with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Nicol: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nicol, and how old are they?
2,150 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 2,248 Americans ever recorded as Nicol. The median Nicol alive today is 45 years old; half are between 23 and 54.
The 2020 Census counted 2,775 people named Nicol (2,609 women and girls, 166 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,059 born in the U.S. The Census count is 35% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Nicol rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 34 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,030 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 363 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 456 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 263 |
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 Nicol born?
The states with the most babies named Nicol are California, New York and Pennsylvania, with 61% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 258 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 117 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 53 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Ohio | 51 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Texas | 47 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 45 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| New Jersey | 41 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 39 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Louisiana | 20 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Colorado | 16 | not ranked | 0.5× |
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 Nicol 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 3,557 babies since 1880, Nicol is the most given (63% of them). In 2025 it was given to 16 of their 27 babies (59%), again the 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 Nicol
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 Nicol and names like it
- Compare Nicol and NikolBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sNicol peaked in 1970.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nicol since 1910.
- The top names of 1970The year the most babies were named Nicol.
- The names of Generation XMost people named Nicol alive today were born 1965-1980.
- Names starting with NMost given first.