Nikolai Boy
How popular is Nikolai?
#605 boy name in 2025
469 baby boys were named Nikolai in the US in 2025, making it the 605th most popular boy name.
Nikolai popularity over time
| Rank in 2025 | #605 for boys (▼ 12 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 469 boys |
| 10-year trend | Falling (-25% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #474 in 2015, #545 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 2016 (639 boys) |
| Highest rank | #473 in 2018 |
| First recorded | 1960 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.3% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Nikolai counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Nikolai family of names ranked #448 for boys in 2025 (#437 the year before), with 674 babies in all.
| Spelling | Boys in 2025 | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Nikolai | 469 | 70% |
| Nikola | 102 | 15% |
| Nicolai | 51 | 8% |
| Nicola | 28 | 4% |
| Nickolai | 10 | 1% |
| Nikolay | 14 | 2% |
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Nikolai is most popular
Babies named Nikolai per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Nevada: 0.5 per 1,000 (27 boys)
- Colorado: 0.5 per 1,000 (59 boys)
- Florida: 0.4 per 1,000 (208 boys)
- Arizona: 0.4 per 1,000 (71 boys)
- New Mexico: 0.4 per 1,000 (14 boys)
Nikolai by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 52 | #2,216 |
| 1970s | 202 | #1,629 |
| 1980s | 291 | #1,673 |
| 1990s | 733 | #1,277 |
| 2000s | 1,632 | #760 |
| 2010s | 5,060 | #473 |
| 2020s | 3,057 | #480 |
Boy names about as popular as Nikolai
Questions
- Is Nikolai a boy or girl name?
- Nikolai is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Nikolai were boys.
- How popular is the name Nikolai?
- 469 baby boys were named Nikolai in the US in 2025, making it the 605th most popular boy name.
- When was Nikolai most popular?
- Nikolai peaked in 2016, when 639 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #473 in 2018.
- How many people are named Nikolai?
- 11,027 babies have been named Nikolai in the US since 1880. We estimate about 10,896 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 11.
- Where is Nikolai most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Nikolai was most common in Nevada, at 0.5 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.