Nicolaus
Nicolaus was last recorded in 2023, when 9 babies were given it; 1,141 Americans have been recorded with it between 1971 and 2023 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,100 Americans named Nicolaus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 31 years old and half are between 23 and 39.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nicolaus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nicolaus mean?
Wiktionary, Latin section
Nicolaus is “a male given name”
Borrowed from Ancient Greek Νῑκόλᾱος (Nīkólāos).
[niː.kɔˈɫaː.ʊs]
Meaning: Wiktionary, Latin section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nicolaus?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #8,716, in 2023; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
47 babies in 1998, the peak
Nicolaus peaked in 1998, when 47 boys were given it, #2,031 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 9 | #8,716 | 5.3 |
| 2020 | 6 | #11,575 | 3.5 |
| 2019 | 10 | #8,037 | 5.6 |
| 2018 | 6 | #11,740 | 3.3 |
| 2017 | 15 | #5,984 | 8.1 |
| 2015 | 12 | #6,963 | 6.3 |
| 2014 | 9 | #8,592 | 4.7 |
| 2013 | 16 | #5,564 | 8.5 |
| 2012 | 11 | #7,390 | 5.8 |
| 2011 | 17 | #5,361 | 9.0 |
Every recorded year (49)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 19 | #4,974 | 9.9 |
| 2009 | 22 | #4,545 | 11.1 |
| 2008 | 21 | #4,656 | 10.3 |
| 2007 | 28 | #3,763 | 13.5 |
| 2006 | 21 | #4,460 | 10.2 |
| 2005 | 23 | #4,018 | 11.5 |
| 2004 | 21 | #4,213 | 10.6 |
| 2003 | 28 | #3,336 | 14.2 |
| 2002 | 31 | #2,991 | 16.0 |
| 2001 | 38 | #2,547 | 19.6 |
| 2000 | 33 | #2,782 | 16.8 |
| 1999 | 38 | #2,384 | 19.8 |
| 1998 | 47 | #2,031 | 24.6 |
| 1997 | 30 | #2,659 | 15.9 |
| 1996 | 35 | #2,317 | 18.5 |
| 1995 | 46 | #1,874 | 24.2 |
| 1994 | 44 | #1,912 | 22.8 |
| 1993 | 34 | #2,273 | 17.3 |
| 1992 | 29 | #2,510 | 14.5 |
| 1991 | 33 | #2,208 | 16.3 |
| 1990 | 38 | #1,999 | 18.5 |
| 1989 | 31 | #2,228 | 15.5 |
| 1988 | 27 | #2,282 | 14.1 |
| 1987 | 26 | #2,247 | 13.9 |
| 1986 | 24 | #2,339 | 13.0 |
| 1985 | 31 | #1,905 | 16.8 |
| 1984 | 20 | #2,504 | 11.1 |
| 1983 | 30 | #1,850 | 16.7 |
| 1982 | 22 | #2,318 | 12.1 |
| 1981 | 29 | #1,933 | 16.2 |
| 1980 | 30 | #1,896 | 16.8 |
| 1979 | 29 | #1,895 | 16.8 |
| 1978 | 27 | #1,903 | 16.4 |
| 1977 | 9 | #4,059 | 5.5 |
| 1976 | 9 | #3,914 | 5.7 |
| 1975 | 5 | #6,045 | 3.2 |
| 1974 | 7 | #4,484 | 4.5 |
| 1973 | 10 | #3,371 | 6.4 |
| 1971 | 5 | #5,434 | 2.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Nicolaus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nicolaus has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 49 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Nicolaus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nicolaus, and how old are they?
1,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 1,141 Americans ever recorded as Nicolaus. The median Nicolaus alive today is 31 years old; half are between 23 and 39.
The 2020 Census counted 1,003 people named Nicolaus (0 women and girls, 1,003 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,096 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 120 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 475 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 420 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 82 |
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 Nicolaus born?
The states with the most babies named Nicolaus are California, Texas and Florida, with 96% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 174 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Texas | 39 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Florida | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Illinois | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Pennsylvania | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
Where Nicolaus is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nicolaus is most over-represented in California: since 1971 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 Nicolaus 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 177,336 babies since 1880, Nicolaus is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 2,718 babies recorded by SSA was a Nicolaus (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Nicolaus
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 Nicolaus and names like it
- Compare Nicolaus and NicolasBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sNicolaus peaked in 1998.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nicolaus since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Nicolaus: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1998The year the most babies were named Nicolaus.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Nicolaus alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with NMost given first.