Nikita
Nikita is given to both girls and boys: 31 girls and 25 boys were given it in 2025 (#4,523 among girls’ names and #4,216 among boys’, #5,246 among all names counting both); 13,668 Americans have been recorded with it since 1949 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026). Boys have outnumbered girls among babies named Nikita every year since 2016.
An estimated 13,200 Americans named Nikita and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (97% of everyone recorded); the median is 33 years old and half are between 22 and 40.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nikita by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nikita mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nikita is “a female given name from Ancient Greek.” Its etymology gives the sense “conqueror” (Νικήτας).
Also “a male given name from Russian, from Russian Ники́та (Nikíta).”
From the Russian Ники́та (Nikíta), a male given name, from Ancient Greek Νικήτας (Nikḗtas, “conqueror”) also a male given name (and name of various saints). The Greek word derives from νῑ́κη (nī́kē, “victory”). Made known in the West by Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Union leader in 1953–1964. It was reanalyzed as a form of Nicholas and taken up as a girls' name first in French and then in English.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nikita?
#4,523 among girls’ names, 2025
Nikita fell from #2,100 in 2015 to #4,523 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 52.1 to 19.3 per million.
1,066 babies in 1986, the peak
Nikita peaked in 1986, when 1,066 babies were given it (1,034 girls, #250 among girls’ names). The 56 births of 2025 (girls and boys) are 5% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 31 | #4,523 | 25 | #4,216 |
| 2024 | 32 | #4,449 | 34 | #3,437 |
| 2023 | 42 | #3,694 | 59 | #2,356 |
| 2022 | 35 | #4,177 | 54 | #2,547 |
| 2021 | 51 | #3,199 | 77 | #1,950 |
| 2020 | 46 | #3,376 | 64 | #2,181 |
| 2019 | 44 | #3,538 | 66 | #2,163 |
| 2018 | 55 | #2,993 | 79 | #1,895 |
| 2017 | 60 | #2,829 | 69 | #2,045 |
| 2016 | 72 | #2,514 | 94 | #1,682 |
Every recorded year (72)
| Year | Girls | Girls’ rank | Boys | Boys’ rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 93 | #2,100 | 92 | #1,701 |
| 2014 | 79 | #2,342 | 101 | #1,572 |
| 2013 | 108 | #1,873 | 75 | #1,891 |
| 2012 | 112 | #1,819 | 84 | #1,781 |
| 2011 | 139 | #1,576 | 79 | #1,819 |
| 2010 | 124 | #1,701 | 103 | #1,556 |
| 2009 | 84 | #2,333 | 116 | #1,450 |
| 2008 | 106 | #1,989 | 117 | #1,429 |
| 2007 | 108 | #1,920 | 88 | #1,717 |
| 2006 | 122 | #1,719 | 95 | #1,558 |
| 2005 | 115 | #1,727 | 74 | #1,781 |
| 2004 | 149 | #1,401 | 88 | #1,525 |
| 2003 | 153 | #1,337 | 79 | #1,603 |
| 2002 | 206 | #1,046 | 76 | #1,601 |
| 2001 | 214 | #1,007 | 59 | #1,882 |
| 2000 | 250 | #883 | 58 | #1,838 |
| 1999 | 320 | #710 | 47 | #2,047 |
| 1998 | 359 | #643 | 52 | #1,889 |
| 1997 | 398 | #583 | 37 | #2,292 |
| 1996 | 161 | #1,126 | 32 | #2,466 |
| 1995 | 190 | #986 | 38 | #2,157 |
| 1994 | 207 | #916 | 36 | #2,241 |
| 1993 | 265 | #779 | 25 | #2,843 |
| 1992 | 343 | #651 | 36 | #2,153 |
| 1991 | 372 | #609 | 31 | #2,328 |
| 1990 | 337 | #660 | 38 | #2,000 |
| 1989 | 417 | #546 | 37 | #1,977 |
| 1988 | 454 | #497 | 20 | #2,821 |
| 1987 | 659 | #361 | 47 | #1,519 |
| 1986 | 1,034 | #250 | 32 | #1,902 |
| 1985 | 162 | #961 | 29 | #2,000 |
| 1984 | 133 | #1,057 | 7 | #5,402 |
| 1983 | 110 | #1,187 | 9 | #4,381 |
| 1982 | 105 | #1,249 | 8 | #4,872 |
| 1981 | 126 | #1,107 | 5 | #6,975 |
| 1980 | 143 | #1,018 | 9 | #4,393 |
| 1979 | 145 | #987 | 9 | #4,301 |
| 1978 | 165 | #886 | 10 | #3,775 |
| 1977 | 181 | #831 | 13 | #3,148 |
| 1976 | 172 | #809 | 6 | #5,412 |
| 1975 | 166 | #821 | 13 | #3,026 |
| 1974 | 170 | #797 | 18 | #2,332 |
| 1973 | 147 | #877 | 14 | #2,679 |
| 1972 | 146 | #876 | 13 | #2,773 |
| 1971 | 95 | #1,202 | 12 | #2,922 |
| 1970 | 60 | #1,593 | 14 | #2,595 |
| 1969 | 35 | #2,163 | 11 | #2,807 |
| 1968 | 20 | #2,944 | 8 | #3,291 |
| 1967 | 25 | #2,475 | 17 | #1,955 |
| 1966 | 20 | #2,817 | 12 | #2,419 |
| 1965 | 24 | #2,517 | 18 | #1,895 |
| 1964 | 32 | #2,138 | 24 | #1,647 |
| 1963 | 26 | #2,402 | 19 | #1,876 |
| 1962 | 41 | #1,801 | 14 | #2,250 |
| 1961 | 39 | #1,860 | 21 | #1,807 |
| 1960 | 56 | #1,477 | 25 | #1,651 |
| 1959 | 44 | #1,663 | 19 | #1,902 |
| 1958 | 16 | #3,053 | under 5 | |
| 1957 | 13 | #3,438 | under 5 | |
| 1956 | 5 | #6,623 | under 5 | |
| 1953 | 5 | #6,289 | under 5 | |
| 1949 | 5 | #5,809 | under 5 |
Ranks: girls’ names and boys’ names ranked separately in each year’s SSA file; “under 5” is a year SSA did not list the name for that sex.
Is Nikita a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 13,668 Americans recorded as Nikita, 79% are girls and 21% boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Nikita: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nikita, and how old are they?
13,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 97% of the 13,668 Americans ever recorded as Nikita. The median Nikita alive today is 33 years old; half are between 22 and 40.
The 2020 Census counted 15,067 people named Nikita (11,129 women and girls, 3,938 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 12,836 born in the U.S. The Census count is 17% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 332 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 1,780 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 5,350 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,160 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,630 |
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 Nikita born?
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 5 | not ranked | 0.8× |
Where Nikita is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nikita is most over-represented in Mississippi: since 1949 it was given 1.3 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 Nikita 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 7 names spelled alike, given to 15,315 babies since 1880, Nikita is the most given (89% of them). In 2025 it was given to 56 of their 56 babies (100%), 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 Nikita
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 Nikita and names like it
- Compare Nikita and NikkitaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1980sNikita peaked in 1986.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nikita since 1910.
- Ancient Greek namesWiktionary’s origin for Nikita: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1986The year the most babies were named Nikita.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Nikita alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with NMost given first.