Nicholas
Meaning
victory of the people, from the Greek Nikolaos; the fourth-century saint of Myra whose secret gift-giving grew into Santa Claus, a name borne by five popes and two tsars, and the 1990s American staple behind Nick, Cole and Colin
Goes by Cole, Klaus, Nick, Nicky, and 1 more
Famously borne by Tsar Nicholas II, the last emperor of Russia.
The story
Nicholas joins two Greek words, nikē, victory, and laos, the people, and its greatest bearer spent that victory on generosity. Nicholas of Myra, the fourth-century bishop remembered for giving to the poor in secret, became the Netherlands' Sinterklaas; Dutch settlers carried him to New Amsterdam, and on American tongues Sinterklaas slowly softened into Santa Claus. The name itself did its climbing much later: steady in the middle ranks for most of a century, it surged through the 1980s and held a place in the American top ten for roughly a decade around the millennium, filling classrooms with Nicks. That nickname keeps a secret of its own. Nick is also the natural short form of Nikhil, Sanskrit for whole, entire, so one small name now serves two unrelated roots, Greek victory and Sanskrit wholeness, meeting in the middle.
Nicholas around the world
One shared root links 22 names across 27 languages.
The constellation
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Nicholas peaked in the 1990s and the 2000s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
9,939 people · the #1,722 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 20,408 · median age 13
Among people named Nicholas living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 1,006 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Nicholas
Most people given the name Nicholas in the United States were born between 1980 and 2009. The Nicholas you meet today is most often in his 20s or 30s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Nicholas deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Nicholas truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Nicholas fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Nicholas travels
Cantonese and Hong Kong · A popular English name in Hong Kong, carried by Hong Kong actor and singer Nicholas Tse.
Keep exploring
Names like Nicholas · Nicknames for Nicholas · Middle names for Nicholas · Greek baby names · Cantonese and Hong Kong baby names · Names of kings and queens
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