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Niklaus

#1,407 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Nicholas

Niklaus has been given to 2,430 babies in the U.S. since 1979. In 2025 it ranked #1,407 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2021, with 282 recorded.

Babies named Niklaus, 2025

1 in 25,500

Niklaus over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Niklaus: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Nicholas

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Niklaus means

Niklaus is a form of Nicholas.

Meaning behind the documented name family

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

Origin, language, and formation

Niklaus is used in German.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nicholas and Nikolaus.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 2,430 boys were recorded with the name Niklaus between 1979 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 282 in 2021; its best national rank was #844 in 2021.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #889 in 2020 to #1,407 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,585 in 2015 to #1,407 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 Niklaus?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 25,500
130 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 13,100
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,407
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
17,677 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Niklaus 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 5002%

Put another way: gather 17,677 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Niklaus. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Niklauss were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Niklaus was born before 2020 — so the typical Niklaus is around 5 today.

Median birth year
2020
About 5 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
51.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
92.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
2,430
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 51.5% of all recorded uses (1,251).

Is Niklaus 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
−174
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−518
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
+178
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.27×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
46.1%
Peak was 2021 (282)
Years since peak
4
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
40.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#844
2021

Spellings of Niklaus

Niklaus is not the most common spelling — Nikolas is, with 55.6% against Niklaus's 5.6%.

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 Niklaus is used

Across 2016–2025, Niklaus was most concentrated in Indiana — about 1 in 5,882 boys, against 1 in 10,581 across all states with data. It was least common in South Carolina (1 in 50,000).

217 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Indiana1 in 5,882
  2. 2Ohio1 in 6,667
  3. 3Florida1 in 7,143
  4. 4Hawaii1 in 7,143
  5. 5Michigan1 in 7,143
  6. 6South Dakota1 in 7,692
  7. 7Tennessee1 in 7,692
  8. 8New York1 in 8,333

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.

Niklaus around the world

Where Niklaus 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
    2014–2025
    #2,440
    in 2025
  • Canada
    2014–2024
    #1,817
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Niklaus

People whose public names include Niklaus, 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.

Niklaus in other languages

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

Nicklaus

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

Niklaus by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,407
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 518
Best rank ever
#844
2021
Peak year
2021
282 that year
First recorded
1979
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
2,430
Count in 2025
130

Names similar to Niklaus

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

NikolausNikolaosNikitaNikolaNiklasNikolaiNikhilNikolayNikoliNikkoNikolasNikkolasNicklausNikosNikodemNicholausNikolozKlausNikolosNikkiNikolusNicolausNikolajNiko

Names with a curve like Niklaus

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

BowieJaxtynGrangerMatheoKiaanZakariKaiusKaisenBeauxArhamMacklinEzrah

Sibling names for Niklaus

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 Niklaus

Top names of 2021, Niklaus's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2021Boys' names starting with NGerman Names