Niklas
Niklas was given to 10 boys in 2025, #8,056 among boys’ names; 1,711 Americans have been recorded with it since 1976 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 1,670 Americans named Niklas and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 24 years old and half are between 18 and 30.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Niklas by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Niklas mean?
Wiktionary, Swedish section
Niklas is “a male given name”
From German Niklas. First recorded as a given name in Sweden in 1593.
Meaning: Wiktionary, Swedish section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Niklas?
#8,056 among boys’ names, 2025
Niklas fell from #4,249 in 2015 to #8,056 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 12.5 to 5.9 per million.
90 babies in 2000, the peak
Niklas peaked in 2000, when 90 boys were given it, #1,393 among boys’ names. The 10 births of 2025 are 11% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 10 | #8,056 | 5.9 |
| 2024 | 5 | #13,655 | 2.9 |
| 2023 | 9 | #8,718 | 5.3 |
| 2022 | 10 | #8,133 | 5.7 |
| 2021 | 20 | #4,882 | 11.4 |
| 2020 | 12 | #6,911 | 7.0 |
| 2019 | 15 | #6,019 | 8.4 |
| 2018 | 13 | #6,590 | 7.2 |
| 2017 | 29 | #3,740 | 15.7 |
| 2016 | 25 | #4,170 | 13.2 |
Every recorded year (49)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 24 | #4,249 | 12.5 |
| 2014 | 24 | #4,219 | 12.5 |
| 2013 | 45 | #2,654 | 23.8 |
| 2012 | 35 | #3,217 | 18.5 |
| 2011 | 30 | #3,576 | 15.8 |
| 2010 | 56 | #2,311 | 29.2 |
| 2009 | 49 | #2,578 | 24.7 |
| 2008 | 48 | #2,613 | 23.5 |
| 2007 | 66 | #2,087 | 31.8 |
| 2006 | 78 | #1,784 | 38.0 |
| 2005 | 77 | #1,732 | 38.6 |
| 2004 | 58 | #2,063 | 29.2 |
| 2003 | 74 | #1,680 | 37.5 |
| 2002 | 71 | #1,674 | 36.6 |
| 2001 | 75 | #1,593 | 38.6 |
| 2000 | 90 | #1,393 | 45.8 |
| 1999 | 71 | #1,567 | 37.0 |
| 1998 | 59 | #1,732 | 30.9 |
| 1997 | 78 | #1,407 | 41.4 |
| 1996 | 71 | #1,450 | 37.5 |
| 1995 | 40 | #2,082 | 21.0 |
| 1994 | 44 | #1,913 | 22.8 |
| 1993 | 35 | #2,240 | 17.8 |
| 1992 | 27 | #2,644 | 13.5 |
| 1991 | 28 | #2,518 | 13.9 |
| 1990 | 33 | #2,195 | 16.1 |
| 1989 | 31 | #2,229 | 15.5 |
| 1988 | 16 | #3,302 | 8.4 |
| 1987 | 12 | #3,892 | 6.4 |
| 1986 | 20 | #2,658 | 10.9 |
| 1985 | 17 | #2,909 | 9.2 |
| 1984 | 17 | #2,782 | 9.4 |
| 1983 | 9 | #4,384 | 5.0 |
| 1982 | 13 | #3,432 | 7.2 |
| 1981 | 7 | #5,318 | 3.9 |
| 1980 | 13 | #3,377 | 7.3 |
| 1979 | 11 | #3,742 | 6.4 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,563 | 3.7 |
| 1976 | 5 | #6,207 | 3.2 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Niklas a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Niklas 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 Niklas: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Niklas, and how old are they?
1,670 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 1,711 Americans ever recorded as Niklas. The median Niklas alive today is 24 years old; half are between 18 and 30.
The 2020 Census counted 1,711 people named Niklas (3 women and girls, 1,708 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,620 born in the U.S. The Census count is 6% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 32 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 402 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 997 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 239 |
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 Niklas born?
The states with the most babies named Niklas are California, Michigan and Minnesota, with 75% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 198 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 81 | not ranked | 1.4× |
| Minnesota | 52 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Texas | 47 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| New York | 18 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Florida | 12 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Illinois | 12 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Pennsylvania | 10 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Ohio | 7 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Washington | 6 | not ranked | 0.2× |
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 Niklas 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 177,906 babies since 1880, Niklas is the eighth most given (<1% of them). In 2025 it was given to 10 of their 2,728 babies (<1%), the seventh most given that year.
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 Niklas
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 Niklas and names like it
- Compare Niklas and NicolasBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2000sNiklas peaked in 2000.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Niklas since 1910.
- Swedish namesWiktionary’s origin for Niklas: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2000The year the most babies were named Niklas.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Niklas alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with NMost given first.