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Nikolaj

Boys' name

Form of Nicholas

Nikolaj has been given to 154 babies in the U.S. since 2001. 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 2019, with 19 recorded.

Babies named Nikolaj, 2024

1 in 418,000

Nikolaj over time, 1880–2025

Boys
0510152018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Nikolaj: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Nicholas

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Nikolaj means

Nikolaj is a form of Nicholas.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Nikolaj is used in Danish and Slovene.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈne.ko.laj/ for Nikolaj.

Meaning behind the documented name family

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

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Nicholas and Nicolai.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Danish, Nikolaj is pronounced [ˈneɡ̊olaɪ̯].

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 154 boys were recorded with the name Nikolaj between 2001 and 2024. Its highest annual count was 19 in 2019; its best national rank was #5,097 in 2019.

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 Nikolaj?

Nikolaj had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2024, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2024
1 in 418,000
8 of 3,342,801 births
Among boys only
1 in 215,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2024
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
289,633 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Nikolaj 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 2024 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 289,633 children born in 2024 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Nikolaj. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Nikolajs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Nikolaj was born before 2017 — so the typical Nikolaj is around 8 today.

Median birth year
2017
About 8 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
58.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
100.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
154
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 58.4% of all recorded uses (90).

Is Nikolaj 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 2019 (19)
Years since peak
6
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
34.0% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,097
2019

Spellings of Nikolaj

Nikolaj is not the most common spelling — Nicolas is, with 52.6% against Nikolaj's 0.08%.

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.

Nikolaj around the world

Where Nikolaj 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
    2001–2025
    #5,137
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2020–2020
    #741
    in 2020
  • Canada
    2018–2021
    #2,989
    in 2021
  • South Australia
    1953–2009
    #708
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Nikolaj 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
#5,097
2019
Peak year
2019
19 that year
First recorded
2001
Last recorded
2024
All-time count
154
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Nikolaj

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

NikodemNikolozNikolayNikolusNikolisNikaiNikanNikolosNikalasMikolajNikkolasNikitasNikholasNikeshNikoliNikashNikalusNiklausNikoaNiklasNikiaNikosNikNikolaos

Sibling names for Nikolaj

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 Nikolaj

Top names of 2019, Nikolaj's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2019Boys' names starting with NSlovenian Boy Names