The story in the numbers

922,897 boys have been named Nicholas in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1995, with 29,161 births — 1.5% of all boys recorded that year.

It is falling: its share of births is 60% or less of what it was ten years ago (rank 57 → 118).

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1992, and the 1990s alone account for 30%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 51 of them in the top 100 and 10 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 3,139 girls have also been given it, 0.34% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

By decade

Decade

boys named Nicholas

730

857

1,334

10,233

13,608

9,716

15,503

22,614

22,343

65,069

223,320

275,326

177,604

66,792

17,848

In 1995, its biggest year

Nicholas was the 6th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1995 were Michael, Matthew, Christopher, Jacob and Joshua. See all of 1995.

Names that rose and fell with Nicholas

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.