Nikko
From Japanese roots meaning "sunlight" and "tree", suggestive of bright beauty.
Name Census estimates that about 4,476 living Americans carry the first name Nikko. It is a predominantly male name (96.1% of registrations). The average person named Nikko today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nikko births was 2021 (216 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nikko. 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 Nikko with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Nikko is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 177 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
4.5K
~ 1 in 76,576 Americans
Peak year
2021
216 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,289
Tracked since 1970
Census
Nikko in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,369 people with the first name Nikko, which placed it at #5,181 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
#5,181
National first-name rank
People counted
3.4K
3,369 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
35.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nikko
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nikko is Hispanic at 35.1%. The next largest groups are White (23.0%) and Black (15.7%). 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 Nikko 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 Nikko at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino35.1% · 1,182
- White23.0% · 776
- Black or African American15.7% · 530
- Two or more races12.4% · 418
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.2% · 412
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 51
Gender
Gender distribution for Nikko
Nikko leans heavily male at 96.1% of total registrations, but 177 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Nikko as a male name
- Ranked #1,289 in 2024
- 152 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2021 (216 births)
Nikko as a female name
- Ranked #17,061 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 1972 (16 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nikko leans strongly male. 3,116 people counted with this name were male (92.5%), compared with 254 female bearers (7.5%).
Popularity
Nikko: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nikko from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,395 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nikko remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nikko 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 Nikko during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nikkos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 28 states and territories. California, Illinois, Texas recorded the most babies named Nikko, while Louisiana, Indiana, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 94 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nikko
The name Nikko is believed to have originated from Japan, derived from the Japanese word "nikko," which means "sunlight" or "sunshine." This name has been in use in Japan for centuries, often associated with the beautiful city of Nikko in the Tochigi Prefecture, known for its stunning shrines and temples.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nikko dates back to the 12th century, when a Buddhist monk named Nikko Shonin (1118-1193) founded the Nikko Toshogu Shrine, a UNESCO World Heritage site dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate.
In Japanese literature, the name Nikko appears in several historical texts and records. For instance, the "Nikko Mandara," a 16th-century painting depicting the city of Nikko, is a significant artistic representation of the name.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Nikko. One such individual was Nikko Niwano (1899-1999), a renowned Japanese Buddhist philosopher and the founder of the Rissho Kosei-kai, a lay Buddhist organization. Another prominent figure was Nikko Hoshi (1910-2002), a Japanese actor and director known for his work in Kabuki theater.
In the realm of sports, Nikko Jenkins (1991-present) is an American professional basketball player who has played in various leagues around the world, including the NBA G League and international teams in Japan and Australia.
Additionally, the name Nikko has been associated with various artistic and cultural endeavors. Nikko Munoz (1964-present) is an American painter and sculptor known for his vibrant and colorful works, while Nikko Hurtado (1979-present) is a renowned American tattoo artist renowned for his detailed and intricate designs.
It is worth noting that while the name Nikko is primarily associated with Japan, it has gained popularity in other parts of the world as well, often used as a unisex name or as a variant of the name Nicholas or Nicole in certain cultures.
People
Nikko + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nikko 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
Nikko: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nikko?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,476 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nikko 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 76,576 US residents.
Is Nikko a common name?
We classify Nikko as "Rare". It ranks above 96.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,550 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nikko most popular?
The single biggest year for Nikko was 2021, when 216 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nikko is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nikko in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,369 people with the name Nikko, or 1.12 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,181 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 Nikko 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 Nikko?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nikko leans strongly male. 3,116 people counted with this name were male (92.5%), compared with 254 female bearers (7.5%). 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 Nikko?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nikko is Hispanic at 35.1%. The next largest groups are White (23.0%) and Black (15.7%). 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 Nikko most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Nikko in the 2020 Census, accounting for 35.1% (1,182 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 Nikko in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nikko a male name?
Yes, 96.1% of people registered as Nikko in the SSA data are male. 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 Nikko still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nikko 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 Nikko 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 Nikko?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.