Nicholson

Boys' name

Nicholas with the suffix -son

Nicholson has been given to 97 babies in the U.S. since 1979. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1994, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Nicholson, 2018

1 in 703,000

Nicholson over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nicholson: meaning, origin, and history

Nicholas with the suffix -son

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nicholson means

Nicholson is formed from Nicholas with the suffix -son.

Origin, language, and formation

Nicholson is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nicholas.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Nicholson is pronounced /ˈnɪkəlsən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 97 boys were recorded with the name Nicholson between 1979 and 2018. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1994; its best national rank was #5,342 in 1994.

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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Nicholson?

Nicholson had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2018, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2018: 1 in 703,000; 5 of 3,516,853 births
Among boys only: 1 in 363,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 2018: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 487,541 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Nicholson 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 2018 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 487,541 children born in 2018 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nicholson. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nicholsons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nicholson was born before 1996 — so the typical Nicholson is around 29 today.

Median birth year: 1996; About 29 years old
Biggest decade: 1990s; 57.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 71.1%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 97; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1990s — 57.7% of all recorded uses (56).

Is Nicholson 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1994 (11)
Years since peak: 31; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 26.7% average annual change
Best rank ever: #5,342; 1994

Spellings of Nicholson

Nicholson is not the most common spelling — Nicholos is, with 47.3% against Nicholson's 6.0%.

Nicholos47.3%768
Nichols46.7%758
Nicholson6.0%97

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.

Nicholson by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #5,342; 1994
Peak year: 1994; 11 that year
First recorded: 1979
Last recorded: 2018
All-time count: 97
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Nicholson

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

Sibling names for Nicholson

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

For a sister

Breonna Austin Darian Rikki Khadijah Lucero Kaylene Jacquelynn

For a brother

Denton Jade Trever Darion Darrius Mackenzie Daquan Dashawn

Explore around Nicholson

Top names of 1994, Nicholson's peak year The 1990s in full Other names that peaked in 1994 Boys' names starting with N