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Nicholaus

#13,328 in 2025Boys' name

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Nicholaus has been given to 3,260 babies in the U.S. since 1950. In 2025 it ranked #13,328 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1981, with 168 recorded.

Babies named Nicholaus, 2025

1 in 663,000

Nicholaus over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05010015020018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nicholaus: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning and linguistic origin unconfirmed

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nicholaus means

Nicholaus is a given name.

The naming story behind Nicholaus

Wikidata records Nicholaus as a male given name. The entity identifier is Q86008977, and the classification was checked on 2026-10-20. The spelling matches a source label or alias exactly, without removing accents or linking it to a name merely because the letters look similar.

A database classification is different from an etymological explanation, so those questions remain open in the short meaning.

A modern root explanation needs an additional naming or linguistic reference.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 3,260 boys were recorded with the name Nicholaus between 1950 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 168 in 1981; its best national rank was #662 in 1979.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #8,526 in 2020 to #13,328 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #9,312 in 2015 to #13,328 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Nicholaus?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 663,000
5 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 342,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#13,328
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
459,581 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nicholaus sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 459,581 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nicholaus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nicholauss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nicholaus was born before 1989 — so the typical Nicholaus is around 36 today.

Median birth year
1989
About 36 years old
Biggest decade
1980s
35.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
16.7%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
3,260
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1980s — 35.4% of all recorded uses (1,155).

Is Nicholaus rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−5,724
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−4,802
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−4,016
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.63×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
3.0%
Peak was 1981 (168)
Years since peak
44
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
31.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#662
1979

Spellings of Nicholaus

Nicholaus is not the most common spelling — Nicholas is, with 85.4% against Nicholaus's 0.30%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Nicholaus is used

Across 1910–2025, Nicholaus was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 108,305 across all states with data. It was least common in Virginia (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 33,333
  2. 2Washington1 in 33,333
  3. 3Texas1 in 50,000
  4. 4Arizona1 in 100,000
  5. 5Colorado1 in 100,000
  6. 6Florida1 in 100,000
  7. 7Iowa1 in 100,000
  8. 8Illinois1 in 100,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Nicholaus has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Nicholaus around the world

Where Nicholaus ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • Canada
    1991–2002
    #2,079
    in 2002
  • South Australia
    1961–1997
    #543
    in 1997

Popularity data from Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Notable people named Nicholaus

People whose public names include Nicholaus, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Nicholaus in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Nicholaus. Linked forms have their own page here.

NicolausNickolaus

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Nicholaus by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#13,328
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 4,802
Best rank ever
#662
1979
Peak year
1981
168 that year
First recorded
1950
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
3,260
Count in 2025
5

Names similar to Nicholaus

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

NicklausNickolausNicolausNickalausNicodemusNicklasNicholaiNicolaiNikolausNicolaNickolaiNiccoloNichlausNicolaasNicoloNiklausNickolasNicholesNicholosNicholusNicholisNicholiNicandroNickalas

Names with a curve like Nicholaus

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Nicholaus, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

JeredTyrelJarretAmitJustenJustonJustineDerrekDontaJoryJaradJerad

Sibling names for Nicholaus

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Nicholaus

Top names of 1981, Nicholaus's peak yearThe 1980s in fullOther names that peaked in 1979Boys' names starting with N