Nick
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Meaning
victory of the people
The story
Nick is the everyday form of Nicholas, from the Greek Nikolaos, victory of the people. Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop associated with secret gifts, eventually became the figure behind Santa Claus, giving the full name one of the widest cultural afterlives of any saint's name. Nicholas passed through Greek and Latin into many European languages, producing forms such as Nicolas and Nikolai, while Nick remained the familiar English form. The US curve for Nick is unusually flat. It holds the same modest level from the 1890s through the 2020s, without the dramatic peak and decline common to direct nicknames. Many more Nicholases have answered to Nick than were registered that way, so the chart counts only part of its real use. On paper it is a nickname; in daily life it has long stood comfortably alone.
Nick across languages
One shared root links 13 names across 6 languages.
Shared root: from Greek Nikolaos, nike "victory" + laos "people"
The constellation
9 more branches of this family
Sources list Nick among the forms of Nicholas (Dutch).
How popular is Nick around the world?
In the United States, 789 babies were named Nick between 2020 and 2025. In Austria, 23 boys named Nick were born in 2025, the 250th most common name among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
Nick is on the official records of the United States, Austria, Ireland, Canada, England and Wales, Chile, Mexico City, Poland, Spain, Brazil and Argentina.
United States
1 in 28,000
In the United States, 789 babies were named Nick between 2020 and 2025.
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Nick has stayed rare in US records the whole time: no peak decade to name.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
Austria
1 in 3,300
In Austria, 23 boys named Nick were born in 2025, the 250th most common name among boys that year, spellings that differ only by special characters counted together.
share of that year’s births on record
Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)
Ireland
1 in 9,000
In Ireland, 6 boys named Nick were born in 2025, the 509th most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.
Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names
Canada
1 in 9,600
In Canada, 38 boys named Nick were born in 2024, the 706th most common name among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)
England and Wales
1 in 42,000
In England and Wales, 14 boys named Nick were born in 2025, ranked 1,798th among boys that year.
share of that year’s name registrations
Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales
Chile
1 in 59,000
In Chile, 3 boys were registered as Nick in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021
Mexico City City
1 in 120,000
In Mexico City, there was 1 registration of Nick in 2022.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023
Poland
1 in 120,000
In Poland, 2 boys named Nick were born in 2025, the 705th most common name among boys that year.
The count never rose above 5 in a year, too few to chart.
First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)
Spain
1 in 190,000
In Spain, 237 residents are named Nick, ranked 4,063rd among men, with a mean age of 21.6 years.
Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025
Brazil
1 in 200,000
At the 2022 census, 994 people in Brazil were named Nick, ranked 8,324th, with a median age of 17.
Among people named Nick living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth
The census also counted 117 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
Argentina
1 in 330,000
In Argentina, 2 newborns were given the name Nick in 2024.
share of that year’s name registrations
Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024
Montevideo City
last on record 2010
Nick is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.
Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial
New Zealand
last on record 1989
Nick is not on the 2025 record for New Zealand, where names under 10 in a year are excluded at source.
share of that year’s name registrations
First given names from New Zealand birth registrations, grouped by registration year; any name under 10 in a year is excluded at source. Shares divide by Stats NZ’s count of births registered to mothers living in New Zealand, under 1% below the registry’s own count. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
Puerto Rico
last on record 2011
Nick is not on the 2025 record for Puerto Rico, which withholds births under 5, and 61 babies have carried the name there since 1998.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)
Scotland
last on record 2021
Nick is not on the 2024 record for Scotland, where spellings under 3 in total are suppressed at source.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in Scotland; different spellings count separately but accents are merged at source, and any spelling under 3 in total is suppressed. Source: National Records of Scotland, babies' first names
South Australia
last on record 2016
Nick is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 8 in a year, too few to chart.
Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names
Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
When you meet Nick
People given the name Nick in the United States span the generations: the middle half were born anywhere from 1950 to 1999. Age is the one thing the name won't tell you.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The meeting point
Two men called Nick: one carries Greek victory, the other Sanskrit wholeness. The names have nothing to do with each other; the nickname is the meeting point.
Nicholas · short for Nicholas: Greek nikē "victory" + laos "people"
Nikhil · the natural short form of Nikhil, Sanskrit "whole, entire": in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake, Gogol's good name Nikhil is shortened to exactly this, and it is the hinge of the novel
Greek and Sanskrit are both Indo-European: unrelated roots, not different language families.
The Nick deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Nick 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 Nick fits with your family’s names and surname.
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