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Nicolai

#2,590 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Nicholas

Nicolai has been given to 1,865 babies in the U.S. since 1962. In 2025 it ranked #2,590 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2015, with 78 recorded.

Babies named Nicolai, 2025

1 in 65,000

Nicolai over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02040608018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nicolai: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Nicholas

Latin and Russian

What Nicolai means

Nicolai is a form of Nicholas.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Nicolai → Nicholas. The family’s meaning is “victory + people”, recorded in English with the source elements νίκη and λαός.

Origin, language, and formation

Nicolai is used in Danish, Norwegian and Walloon. Its origins include Latin and Russian.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nicholas and Nikolai.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Danish, Nicolai is pronounced [ˈneɡ̊olaɪ̯].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,865 boys were recorded with the name Nicolai between 1962 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 78 in 2015; its best national rank was #1,883 in 2015.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #2,574 in 2020 to #2,590 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,883 in 2015 to #2,590 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.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Nicolai?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 65,000
51 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 33,500
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#2,590
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
45,058 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nicolai 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 45,058 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nicolai. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nicolais were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nicolai was born before 2010 — so the typical Nicolai is around 15 today.

Median birth year
2010
About 15 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
32.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
73.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
1,865
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 32.5% of all recorded uses (607).

Is Nicolai 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
−4
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−16
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−707
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.65×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
65.4%
Peak was 2015 (78)
Years since peak
10
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
16.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,883
2015

Spellings of Nicolai

Nicolai is not the most common spelling — Nicholas is, with 82.7% against Nicolai's 0.17%.

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 Nicolai is used

Across 2016–2025, Nicolai was most concentrated in California — about 1 in 20,000 boys, against 1 in 35,947 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in 100,000).

15 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 in 20,000
  2. 2Florida1 in 33,333
  3. 3Texas1 in 33,333
  4. 4Arizona1 in 50,000
  5. 5North Carolina1 in 100,000
  6. 6New York1 in 100,000
  7. 7Ohio1 in 100,000
  8. 8Pennsylvania1 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.

Nicolai around the world

Where Nicolai 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.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #5,137
    in 2025
  • France
    1981–2023
    #4,870
    in 2023
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #165
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1993–2022
    #2,602
    in 2022
  • South Australia
    1951–1981
    #425
    in 1981

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. SSB, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Nicolai by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#2,590
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 16
Best rank ever
#1,883
2015
Peak year
2015
78 that year
First recorded
1962
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,865
Count in 2025
51

Names similar to Nicolai

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

NicholaiNickolaiNicklasNiccoloNicoloNicolaNicklausNicholiNicksonNicasioNiccoNicodemusNicoleNicholausNicanorNickeyNicholsNickieNicolaasNicolausNicholesNickolausNicholosNicky

Sibling names for Nicolai

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 Nicolai

Top names of 2015, Nicolai's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2015Boys' names starting with NNicholas Variations & Nicknames