Nikolaus
Nikolaus was given to 24 boys in 2025, #4,345 among boys’ names; 2,656 Americans have been recorded with it since 1955 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,550 Americans named Nikolaus and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (96% of everyone recorded); the median is 30 years old and half are between 21 and 39.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Nikolaus by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Nikolaus mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Nikolaus is “a male given name, equivalent to English Nicholas”
Borrowed from Latin Nīcolāus. Compare English Nicholas.
/ˈnɪkoˌlaʊ̯s/
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Nikolaus?
#4,345 among boys’ names, 2025
Nikolaus rose from #4,503 in 2015 to #4,345 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 11.5 to 14.1 per million.
98 babies in 1994, the peak
Nikolaus peaked in 1994, when 98 boys were given it, #1,146 among boys’ names. The 24 births of 2025 are 24% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 24 | #4,345 | 14.1 |
| 2024 | 31 | #3,663 | 18.0 |
| 2023 | 15 | #6,133 | 8.8 |
| 2022 | 24 | #4,395 | 13.7 |
| 2021 | 33 | #3,468 | 18.9 |
| 2020 | 21 | #4,652 | 12.2 |
| 2019 | 33 | #3,469 | 18.4 |
| 2018 | 19 | #5,049 | 10.5 |
| 2017 | 27 | #3,945 | 14.6 |
| 2016 | 23 | #4,429 | 12.1 |
Every recorded year (60)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 22 | #4,503 | 11.5 |
| 2014 | 47 | #2,607 | 24.5 |
| 2013 | 25 | #4,028 | 13.2 |
| 2012 | 29 | #3,682 | 15.3 |
| 2011 | 28 | #3,759 | 14.7 |
| 2010 | 44 | #2,771 | 22.9 |
| 2009 | 43 | #2,829 | 21.7 |
| 2008 | 48 | #2,614 | 23.5 |
| 2007 | 35 | #3,225 | 16.9 |
| 2006 | 40 | #2,863 | 19.5 |
| 2005 | 52 | #2,284 | 26.0 |
| 2004 | 63 | #1,944 | 31.7 |
| 2003 | 64 | #1,862 | 32.4 |
| 2002 | 54 | #2,033 | 27.8 |
| 2001 | 68 | #1,701 | 35.0 |
| 2000 | 72 | #1,630 | 36.7 |
| 1999 | 75 | #1,510 | 39.1 |
| 1998 | 86 | #1,362 | 45.0 |
| 1997 | 78 | #1,408 | 41.4 |
| 1996 | 80 | #1,352 | 42.2 |
| 1995 | 87 | #1,248 | 45.7 |
| 1994 | 98 | #1,146 | 50.7 |
| 1993 | 66 | #1,437 | 33.7 |
| 1992 | 96 | #1,123 | 48.1 |
| 1991 | 89 | #1,173 | 44.1 |
| 1990 | 75 | #1,278 | 36.5 |
| 1989 | 71 | #1,297 | 35.5 |
| 1988 | 73 | #1,185 | 38.1 |
| 1987 | 67 | #1,183 | 35.9 |
| 1986 | 63 | #1,210 | 34.2 |
| 1985 | 50 | #1,381 | 27.1 |
| 1984 | 51 | #1,310 | 28.3 |
| 1983 | 56 | #1,232 | 31.2 |
| 1982 | 52 | #1,303 | 28.7 |
| 1981 | 64 | #1,150 | 35.7 |
| 1980 | 70 | #1,086 | 39.2 |
| 1979 | 67 | #1,097 | 38.9 |
| 1978 | 47 | #1,345 | 28.6 |
| 1977 | 17 | #2,625 | 10.3 |
| 1976 | 12 | #3,203 | 7.6 |
| 1975 | 10 | #3,599 | 6.4 |
| 1974 | 13 | #2,899 | 8.3 |
| 1973 | 6 | #4,909 | 3.8 |
| 1972 | 9 | #3,526 | 5.6 |
| 1971 | 8 | #3,856 | 4.5 |
| 1970 | 9 | #3,447 | 4.8 |
| 1969 | 7 | #3,827 | 3.9 |
| 1968 | 8 | #3,292 | 4.6 |
| 1966 | 7 | #3,448 | 3.9 |
| 1955 | 5 | #4,225 | 2.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Nikolaus a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Nikolaus has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 60 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Nikolaus: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Nikolaus, and how old are they?
2,550 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 96% of the 2,656 Americans ever recorded as Nikolaus. The median Nikolaus alive today is 30 years old; half are between 21 and 39.
The 2020 Census counted 2,252 people named Nikolaus (0 women and girls, 2,252 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 2,441 born in the U.S. The Census count is 8% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 3 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 264 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,080 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 863 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 341 |
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 Nikolaus born?
The states with the most babies named Nikolaus are California, Texas and New York, with 64% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 314 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Texas | 105 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| New York | 51 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Pennsylvania | 49 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Florida | 37 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Michigan | 35 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Wisconsin | 32 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Illinois | 26 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Minnesota | 19 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Ohio | 16 | not ranked | 0.1× |
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 Nikolaus 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 177,632 babies since 1880, Nikolaus is the fifth most given (1.5% of them). In 2025 it was given to 24 of their 2,762 babies (<1%), the sixth 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 Nikolaus
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 Nikolaus and names like it
- Compare Nikolaus and NicolasBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sNikolaus peaked in 1994.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Nikolaus since 1910.
- German namesWiktionary’s origin for Nikolaus: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1994The year the most babies were named Nikolaus.
- The names of the MillennialsMost people named Nikolaus alive today were born 1981-1996.
- Names starting with NMost given first.