Nicole
Nicole was given to 803 girls in 2025, #383 among girls’ names; 596,465 Americans have been recorded with it since 1937 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 575,000 Americans named Nicole and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 40 years old and half are between 32 and 47.
Nicole is the #29 most common first name among living American women and girls, by this estimate.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nicole by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nicole mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nicole is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.” Its etymology gives the sense “Nicholas” (Nicolas).
Borrowed from French Nicole, the feminine form of Nicolas (“Nicholas”).
/nɪˈkoʊl/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nicole?
#383 among girls’ names, 2025
Nicole fell from #154 in 2015 to #383 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 1.2 to 0.50 per 1,000.
23,043 babies in 1985, the peak
Nicole peaked in 1985, when 23,043 babies were given it (22,966 girls, #7 among girls’ names). The 803 births of 2025 are 3% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 803 | #383 | 0.50 |
| 2024 | 964 | #319 | 0.59 |
| 2023 | 942 | #326 | 0.59 |
| 2022 | 996 | #323 | 0.61 |
| 2021 | 955 | #341 | 0.58 |
| 2020 | 1,163 | #266 | 0.72 |
| 2019 | 1,365 | #229 | 0.81 |
| 2018 | 1,429 | #217 | 0.84 |
| 2017 | 1,664 | #184 | 1.0 |
| 2016 | 1,954 | #162 | 1.1 |
Every recorded year (89)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2,116 | #154 | 1.2 |
| 2014 | 2,540 | #128 | 1.4 |
| 2013 | 3,352 | #91 | 1.9 |
| 2012 | 2,661 | #114 | 1.5 |
| 2011 | 2,655 | #117 | 1.5 |
| 2010 | 2,570 | #123 | 1.4 |
| 2009 | 2,770 | #119 | 1.5 |
| 2008 | 3,291 | #106 | 1.7 |
| 2007 | 3,873 | #86 | 2.0 |
| 2006 | 4,322 | #74 | 2.3 |
| 2005 | 4,993 | #56 | 2.7 |
| 2004 | 5,741 | #43 | 3.1 |
| 2003 | 6,238 | #40 | 3.4 |
| 2002 | 6,974 | #37 | 3.9 |
| 2001 | 7,820 | #36 | 4.3 |
| 2000 | 8,563 | #31 | 4.7 |
| 1999 | 9,515 | #25 | 5.4 |
| 1998 | 9,911 | #24 | 5.6 |
| 1997 | 10,744 | #21 | 6.2 |
| 1996 | 11,135 | #22 | 6.4 |
| 1995 | 12,277 | #19 | 7.0 |
| 1994 | 16,011 | #11 | 9.0 |
| 1993 | 16,183 | #13 | 8.9 |
| 1992 | 16,327 | #14 | 8.9 |
| 1991 | 16,046 | #15 | 8.6 |
| 1990 | 17,954 | #13 | 9.5 |
| 1989 | 19,032 | #12 | 10.3 |
| 1988 | 20,315 | #9 | 11.4 |
| 1987 | 20,286 | #8 | 11.7 |
| 1986 | 21,292 | #7 | 12.4 |
| 1985 | 22,966 | #7 | 13.3 |
| 1984 | 22,270 | #7 | 13.2 |
| 1983 | 22,400 | #7 | 13.4 |
| 1982 | 21,706 | #6 | 12.8 |
| 1981 | 20,310 | #7 | 12.2 |
| 1980 | 19,917 | #7 | 12.0 |
| 1979 | 19,510 | #9 | 12.2 |
| 1978 | 17,279 | #10 | 11.3 |
| 1977 | 15,247 | #15 | 9.9 |
| 1976 | 14,453 | #13 | 9.9 |
| 1975 | 14,275 | #10 | 9.8 |
| 1974 | 13,112 | #11 | 8.9 |
| 1973 | 13,922 | #11 | 9.5 |
| 1972 | 15,755 | #10 | 10.4 |
| 1971 | 10,423 | #27 | 6.3 |
| 1970 | 10,691 | #30 | 6.1 |
| 1969 | 7,212 | #47 | 4.3 |
| 1968 | 3,083 | #108 | 1.9 |
| 1967 | 2,776 | #122 | 1.7 |
| 1966 | 2,028 | #169 | 1.2 |
| 1965 | 898 | #298 | 0.51 |
| 1964 | 831 | #330 | 0.44 |
| 1963 | 655 | #381 | 0.34 |
| 1962 | 565 | #407 | 0.29 |
| 1961 | 273 | #614 | 0.14 |
| 1960 | 243 | #648 | 0.12 |
| 1959 | 205 | #700 | 0.10 |
| 1958 | 180 | #742 | 0.09 |
| 1957 | 141 | #857 | 0.07 |
| 1956 | 153 | #804 | 0.08 |
| 1955 | 120 | #893 | 0.06 |
| 1954 | 110 | #918 | 0.06 |
| 1953 | 120 | #852 | 0.06 |
| 1952 | 103 | #912 | 0.06 |
| 1951 | 93 | #963 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 89 | #954 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 68 | #1,099 | 0.04 |
| 1948 | 68 | #1,079 | 0.04 |
| 1947 | 66 | #1,101 | 0.04 |
| 1946 | 80 | #933 | 0.05 |
| 1945 | 61 | #992 | 0.05 |
| 1944 | 58 | #1,035 | 0.04 |
| 1943 | 89 | #827 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 70 | #943 | 0.05 |
| 1941 | 31 | #1,408 | 0.03 |
| 1940 | 25 | #1,578 | 0.02 |
| 1939 | 12 | #2,539 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 7 | #3,740 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 9 | #3,094 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Nicole a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nicole has been given almost only to girls: 1,965 boys in 89 years of records.
Girls and boys named Nicole: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nicole, and how old are they?
575,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 596,465 Americans ever recorded as Nicole. The median Nicole alive today is 40 years old; half are between 32 and 47.
The 2020 Census counted 544,076 people named Nicole (543,303 women and girls, 773 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 574,956 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 182 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3,450 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 170,000 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 289,000 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 91,700 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 20,100 |
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 Nicole born?
The states with the most babies named Nicole are California, New York and Pennsylvania, with 30% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 75,779 | #253 | 1.0× |
| New York | 63,782 | #324 | 1.5× |
| Pennsylvania | 36,536 | #438 | 1.3× |
| Illinois | 34,614 | #213 | 1.2× |
| New Jersey | 28,623 | #525 | 1.6× |
| Michigan | 28,282 | #724 | 1.2× |
| Florida | 27,919 | #194 | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 27,389 | #703 | 1.0× |
| Texas | 26,807 | #330 | 0.5× |
| Massachusetts | 20,493 | #369 | 1.4× |
Where Nicole is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nicole is most over-represented in New Jersey: since 1937 it was given 1.6 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 Nicole 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 623,292 babies since 1880, Nicole is the most given (96% of them). In 2025 it was given to 803 of their 926 babies (87%), 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 Nicole
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 Nicole and names like it
- Compare Nicole and NicolaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sNicole peaked in 1985.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nicole since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Nicole: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1985The year the most babies were named Nicole.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Nicole alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with NMost given first.