Nichola
Feminine form of Nicholas, taken from the Greek name Nikolaos meaning "victory for the people".
Name Census estimates that about 865 living Americans carry the first name Nichola. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 87.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Nichola today is around 48 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nichola births was 1969 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nichola. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Nichola with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
865
~ 1 in 396,248 Americans
Peak year
1969
42 babies that year
Average age
48
years old
1996 SSA rank
#10,072
Tracked since 1942
Census
Nichola in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,589 people with the first name Nichola, which placed it at #8,945 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#8,945
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,589 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nichola
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nichola is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (23.5%) and Hispanic (7.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Nichola described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Nichola at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.4% · 992
- Black or African American23.5% · 374
- Hispanic or Latino7.2% · 114
- Two or more races4.8% · 76
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.5% · 24
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 9
Gender
Gender distribution for Nichola
Nichola leans heavily female at 87.2% of total registrations, but 127 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nichola as a male name
- Ranked #10,072 in 1996
- 5 male births in 1996
- Peak: 1989 (13 births)
Nichola as a female name
- Ranked #19,064 in 2010
- 5 female births in 2010
- Peak: 1969 (42 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nichola on both sides of the split. Of the 1,584 people counted with this name, 368 were male (23.2%) and 1,216 were female (76.8%).
Popularity
Nichola: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nichola from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 293 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1970s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nichola by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Nichola during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nicholas live
Origin
Meaning and history of Nichola
The name Nichola is a feminine name derived from the Greek name Nikolaos, a compound of the words "nikos" meaning "victory" and "laos" meaning "people." It is the feminine form of the masculine name Nicholas, which was popularized by St. Nicholas, the 4th-century bishop of Myra, who became the inspiration for the legendary figure of Santa Claus.
The name Nichola first appeared in various forms across Europe during the Middle Ages, with early recorded instances in Italy, France, and England. In Italy, the name was often spelled as Nicola, while in France, it was more commonly written as Nicole. In England, the spelling Nichola emerged as a variation of the name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nichola can be found in the Domesday Book, a survey of English landowners commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The book mentions a woman named Nichola, who held lands in Worcestershire.
Throughout history, several notable women have borne the name Nichola. One of the most famous was Nichola de la Haye (c. 1156-1230), an English noblewoman and heiress who played a significant role in the negotiations between King John of England and the barons during the events leading up to the Magna Carta.
Another prominent Nichola was Nichola di Bari (c. 1090-1163), an Italian saint and abbess who founded the Monastery of Santa Maria in Bari, Italy. She was known for her piety and charitable works.
In the 13th century, Nichola de Camville (c. 1200-1275) was a wealthy English landowner and benefactor who donated generously to religious institutions and supported the construction of churches.
During the Renaissance, Nichola de' Bardi (c. 1380-1460) was an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts, known for her support of artists and writers in Florence.
In more recent times, Nichola Burley (1943-2022) was a British actress and singer who appeared in various films, television shows, and stage productions throughout her career.
While the name Nichola has undergone various spellings and pronunciations over time, its Greek roots and association with St. Nicholas have endured, making it a name with a rich historical and cultural significance.
People
Nichola + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nichola as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with N
Other first names starting with N with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Nichola: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nichola?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 865 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nichola going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 396,248 US residents.
Is Nichola a common name?
We classify Nichola as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 991 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nichola most popular?
The single biggest year for Nichola was 1969, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nichola is about 48 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nichola in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,589 people with the name Nichola, or 0.53 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,945 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Nichola in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Nichola?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nichola on both sides of the split. Of the 1,584 people counted with this name, 368 were male (23.2%) and 1,216 were female (76.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Nichola?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nichola is White at 62.4%. The next largest groups are Black (23.5%) and Hispanic (7.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Nichola most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nichola in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.4% (992 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Nichola in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nichola a female name?
Yes, 87.2% of people registered as Nichola in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Nichola still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nichola in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Nichola can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Nichola?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.