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Nikolai

#605 in 2025Boys' name

Alternate transcription of Nikolay

Nikolai has been given to 11,027 babies in the U.S. since 1960. In 2025 it ranked #605 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2016, with 639 recorded.

Babies named Nikolai, 2025

1 in 7,070

Nikolai over time, 1880–2025

Boys
020040060080018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nikolai: meaning, origin, and history

Alternate transcription of Nikolay

Latin

What Nikolai means

Nikolai is a alternate transcription of Nikolay.

Origin, language, and formation

Nikolai is used in English, Danish, Finnish and Norwegian. Its origins include Latin.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nikolay, Николай, Nicolai and Nicholas.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Danish, Nikolai is pronounced [ˈneɡ̊olaɪ̯].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 11,027 boys were recorded with the name Nikolai between 1960 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 639 in 2016; its best national rank was #474 in 2018.

Over 5 years its rank fell, from #545 in 2020 to #605 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #476 in 2015 to #605 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 Nikolai?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 7,070
469 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 3,640
0.03% of boys
Rank, 2025
#605
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
4,901 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nikolai 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 1001%
School of 5007%

Put another way: gather 4,901 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nikolai. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nikolais were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nikolai was born before 2015 — so the typical Nikolai is around 10 today.

Median birth year
2015
About 10 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
45.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
87.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
11,027
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 45.9% of all recorded uses (5,060).

Is Nikolai 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
−11
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
−60
Places dropped
Rank vs 10 years ago
−129
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
0.75×
Fewer babies than then
Share of its own peak
73.4%
Peak was 2016 (639)
Years since peak
9
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
11.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#474
2018

Spellings of Nikolai

Nikolai is not the most common spelling — Nicolas is, with 52.4% against Nikolai's 5.7%.

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 Nikolai is used

Across 2016–2025, Nikolai was most concentrated in Nevada — about 1 in 1,695 boys, against 1 in 2,968 across all states with data. It was least common in Nebraska (1 in 12,500).

859 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Nevada1 in 1,695
  2. 2Colorado1 in 2,041
  3. 3New Mexico1 in 2,174
  4. 4Washington1 in 2,174
  5. 5Utah1 in 2,222
  6. 6Arizona1 in 2,273
  7. 7Florida1 in 2,273
  8. 8California1 in 2,439

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, Nikolai is used remarkably evenly across the country — more concentrated than 13% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Nikolai around the world

Where Nikolai 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
    #1,226
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2000–2018
    #595
    in 2018
  • Ireland
    2004–2025
    #829
    in 2025
  • France
    1985–2025
    #2,753
    in 2025
  • Norway
    1880–2025
    #102
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #772
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1950–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Norway, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, SSB, 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 Nikolai

People whose public names include Nikolai, 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.

Nikolai in other languages

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

NikoNilsNielsNiiloNikosMykolaNicolaeNicolaiNicolasNicolauNikolajNikolasNikolayNicholasNicolaasNicolinoNikolaosNikolausMiklósMikolaNickelNicolòMikalaiMiklavž

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

Nikolai by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#605
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Down 60
Best rank ever
#474
2018
Peak year
2016
639 that year
First recorded
1960
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
11,027
Count in 2025
469

Names similar to Nikolai

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

NikolasNikhilNiklausNikolaNikitaNikolausNikkoNikolaosNikoNiklasNicolaiNikolayNikoliNikkolasNikosNikodemNikkolaiNicholaiNikolozNickolaiNikolosNikkiNikolusNikolaj

Names with a curve like Nikolai

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

KasenDeaconSorenRayanCaseYusufArjunEdenFinneganZayneLennonCannon

Sibling names for Nikolai

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 Nikolai

Top names of 2016, Nikolai's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2018Boys' names starting with NNicholas Variations & NicknamesRussian Boy Names