Nīkau
Torn between Nīkau and another name? Compare them side by side →
Meaning
from the Māori name of the nīkau palm
How popular is Nīkau around the world?
Nīkau does not appear in US Social Security baby-name records, which list only names given to at least five babies in a year. There is no popularity curve to chart: a genuinely rare pick. In New Zealand, 12 boys named Nīkau were registered in 2025.
Nīkau is on the official records of New Zealand.
United States
under 5 a year
Nīkau does not appear in US Social Security baby-name records, which list only names given to at least five babies in a year. There is no popularity curve to chart: a genuinely rare pick.
Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration
New Zealand
1 in 4,800
In New Zealand, 12 boys named Nīkau were registered in 2025.
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. This registry counts each spelling separately; the figures above are for the exact spelling Nīkau, and accented spellings are separate names. Source: Department of Internal Affairs (New Zealand), baby name popularity over time
England and Wales
last on record 2019
Nīkau is not on the 2025 record for England and Wales, where spellings under 3 in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 3 in a year, too few to chart.
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
Not on the record in Spain, Mexico City, Argentina, Puerto Rico, Canada, Ireland, Scotland and Poland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.
Not on the Chile record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 5 registrations in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the Montevideo record for 1940 to 2011: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on the South Australia record for 1944 to 2017: that registry withholds nothing, so this spelling was not given there in those years. Not on the Austria record for 1984 to 2025: Statistik Austria publishes every first name down to a single birth, so this name was not given there in those years (before 2010 the record covers babies with Austrian citizenship only). Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.
The Nīkau deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Nīkau 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 Nīkau fits with your family’s names and surname.
Does Nīkau fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Nīkau to your family’s tree →