Name Awesome

Niko

#325 in 2025Boys' name

Form of Nicholas

Niko has been given to 15,135 babies in the U.S. since 1962. In 2025 it ranked #325 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2022, with 1,192 recorded.

Babies named Niko, 2025

1 in 3,170

Niko over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05001K1.5K18801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Niko: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Nicholas

Greek

What Niko means

Niko is a form of Nicholas.

Meaning behind the documented name family

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

Origin, language, and formation

Niko is used in English, Albanian, Finnish, German and Serbo-Croatian. Its origins include Greek.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nicholas, Nikola, Nikolas, Nikolaos, Nikolaus, Nico and Nìkola.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Niko is pronounced /ˈniko/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 14,629 boys were recorded with the name Niko between 1962 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 1,192 in 2022; its best national rank was #287 in 2022.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #358 in 2020 to #325 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #629 in 2015 to #325 in 2025.

In the United States, 506 girls were recorded with the name Niko between 1968 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 23 in 1972; its best national rank was #2,959 in 1972.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #7,469 in 2020 to #6,268 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #9,963 in 2015 to #6,268 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 Niko?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 3,170
1,046 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 1,630
0.06% of boys
Rank, 2025
#325
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
2,198 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Niko 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 1003%
School of 50015%

Put another way: gather 2,198 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Niko. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nikos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Niko was born before 2018 — so the typical Niko is around 7 today.

Median birth year
2018
About 7 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
43.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
85.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
14,629
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 43.2% of all recorded uses (6,322).

Is Niko 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
+19
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+33
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+304
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.46×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
87.8%
Peak was 2022 (1,192)
Years since peak
3
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
12.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#287
2022

Spellings of Niko

Niko is not the most common spelling — Mike is, with 44.1% against Niko's 3.1%.

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 Niko is used

Across 2016–2025, Niko was most concentrated in Hawaii — about 1 in 741 boys, against 1 in 1,852 across all states with data. It was least common in Mississippi (1 in 25,000).

4135 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Hawaii1 in 741
  2. 2New Mexico1 in 833
  3. 3Nevada1 in 990
  4. 4Oregon1 in 1,149
  5. 5Colorado1 in 1,220
  6. 6Connecticut1 in 1,282
  7. 7California1 in 1,316
  8. 8Washington1 in 1,449

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.

Geographically, Niko is somewhat regional — more concentrated than 49% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Niko around the world

Where Niko 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
    #615
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2010–2025
    #560
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    2023–2023
    #395
    in 2023
  • Ireland
    2018–2025
    #577
    in 2025
  • France
    1989–2025
    #5,005
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #371
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1955–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Niko

People whose public names include Niko, 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.

Niko in other languages

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

NicoNiiloNikosNicolauNikolaiNicolausNikolaosNikolausNikodemusNikuNicolás

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

Niko by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#325
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 33
Best rank ever
#287
2022
Peak year
2022
1,192 that year
First recorded
1962
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
14,629
Count in 2025
1,046

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#6,268
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,201
Best rank ever
#2,959
1972
Peak year
1972
23 that year
First recorded
1968
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
506
Count in 2025
19

Names similar to Niko

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

NikkoNikhilNikolaiNikolasNikolaNikitaNikosNiklasMikoNiklausNikoliNikolausNikkiNeikoNikolaosNikNikaiNikanNikiNikolayNikeKikoNikiaAiko

Names with a curve like Niko

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

BowenMalakaiElianSantinoTatumAdonisMathiasRemyLennoxRidgeKaysonDariel

Sibling names for Niko

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 Niko

Top names of 2022, Niko's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2022Boys' names starting with NGreenlandic Boy NamesNicholas Variations & NicknamesShort Finnish Boy Names