Nikolaos
Nikolaos was given to 51 boys in 2025, #2,591 among boys’ names; 2,072 Americans have been recorded with it since 1962 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,000 Americans named Nikolaos and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 22 years old and half are between 11 and 40.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nikolaos by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nikolaos mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Nikolaos is “a transliteration of the Greek male given name Νικόλαος (Nikólaos) used in Greece. The equivalent female name is Nikoleta.” Its etymology gives the senses “I conquer” (νικάω) and “people” (λαός).
Borrowed from Greek Νικόλαος (Nikólaos), from Ancient Greek Νικόλαος (Nikólaos), from νικάω (nikáō, “I conquer”) + λαός (laós, “people”). Doublet of Nicholas.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nikolaos?
#2,591 among boys’ names, 2025
Nikolaos rose from #2,845 in 2015 to #2,591 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 21.9 to 29.9 per million.
58 babies in 2014, the peak
Nikolaos peaked in 2014, when 58 boys were given it, #2,287 among boys’ names. The 51 births of 2025 are 88% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 51 | #2,591 | 29.9 |
| 2024 | 47 | #2,783 | 27.3 |
| 2023 | 50 | #2,645 | 29.2 |
| 2022 | 48 | #2,743 | 27.5 |
| 2021 | 56 | #2,425 | 32.0 |
| 2020 | 48 | #2,646 | 27.8 |
| 2019 | 46 | #2,753 | 25.6 |
| 2018 | 38 | #3,087 | 20.9 |
| 2017 | 40 | #2,987 | 21.6 |
| 2016 | 48 | #2,608 | 25.3 |
Every recorded year (61)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 42 | #2,845 | 21.9 |
| 2014 | 58 | #2,287 | 30.2 |
| 2013 | 47 | #2,586 | 24.8 |
| 2012 | 34 | #3,280 | 17.9 |
| 2011 | 48 | #2,576 | 25.3 |
| 2010 | 47 | #2,618 | 24.5 |
| 2009 | 45 | #2,737 | 22.7 |
| 2008 | 49 | #2,569 | 24.0 |
| 2007 | 52 | #2,467 | 25.1 |
| 2006 | 32 | #3,357 | 15.6 |
| 2005 | 44 | #2,548 | 22.0 |
| 2004 | 49 | #2,329 | 24.7 |
| 2003 | 39 | #2,603 | 19.7 |
| 2002 | 27 | #3,312 | 13.9 |
| 2001 | 36 | #2,663 | 18.5 |
| 2000 | 31 | #2,897 | 15.8 |
| 1999 | 28 | #2,995 | 14.6 |
| 1998 | 33 | #2,583 | 17.3 |
| 1997 | 29 | #2,727 | 15.4 |
| 1996 | 39 | #2,166 | 20.6 |
| 1995 | 35 | #2,280 | 18.4 |
| 1994 | 20 | #3,419 | 10.4 |
| 1993 | 22 | #3,111 | 11.2 |
| 1992 | 25 | #2,791 | 12.5 |
| 1991 | 30 | #2,376 | 14.8 |
| 1990 | 23 | #2,837 | 11.2 |
| 1989 | 35 | #2,050 | 17.5 |
| 1988 | 18 | #3,038 | 9.4 |
| 1987 | 24 | #2,372 | 12.9 |
| 1986 | 35 | #1,779 | 19.0 |
| 1985 | 37 | #1,689 | 20.0 |
| 1984 | 24 | #2,216 | 13.3 |
| 1983 | 36 | #1,645 | 20.1 |
| 1982 | 26 | #2,097 | 14.3 |
| 1981 | 31 | #1,848 | 17.3 |
| 1980 | 27 | #2,037 | 15.1 |
| 1979 | 48 | #1,347 | 27.9 |
| 1978 | 37 | #1,560 | 22.5 |
| 1977 | 36 | #1,565 | 21.9 |
| 1976 | 36 | #1,528 | 22.9 |
| 1975 | 31 | #1,651 | 19.9 |
| 1974 | 34 | #1,511 | 21.6 |
| 1973 | 21 | #2,015 | 13.5 |
| 1972 | 19 | #2,133 | 11.7 |
| 1971 | 17 | #2,344 | 9.6 |
| 1970 | 16 | #2,376 | 8.6 |
| 1969 | 14 | #2,382 | 7.8 |
| 1968 | 12 | #2,540 | 6.9 |
| 1967 | 9 | #2,917 | 5.2 |
| 1965 | 6 | #3,812 | 3.2 |
| 1962 | 7 | #3,534 | 3.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Nikolaos a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nikolaos has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 61 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Nikolaos: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nikolaos, and how old are they?
2,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 2,072 Americans ever recorded as Nikolaos. The median Nikolaos alive today is 22 years old; half are between 11 and 40.
The 2020 Census counted 2,824 people named Nikolaos (6 women and girls, 2,818 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,730 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1.6 times 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 | 5 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 327 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 437 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 613 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 614 |
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 Nikolaos born?
The states with the most babies named Nikolaos are New York, California and Illinois, with 75% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 5 | #1,967 | 3.2× |
| California | 5 | #2,698 | 0.3× |
| Illinois | 5 | #1,429 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 5 | #1,421 | 0.2× |
Where Nikolaos is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Nikolaos is most over-represented in New York: since 1962 it was given 3.2 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 Nikolaos 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 175,881 babies since 1880, Nikolaos is the sixth most given (1.2% of them). In 2025 it was given to 51 of their 2,761 babies (1.8%), the fifth 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 Nikolaos
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 Nikolaos and names like it
- Compare Nikolaos and NicolasBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2010sNikolaos peaked in 2014.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nikolaos since 1910.
- The top names of 2014The year the most babies were named Nikolaos.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Nikolaos alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with NMost given first.