Niklas
A masculine given name of Swedish origin meaning "victor of the people."
Name Census estimates that about 1,670 living Americans carry the first name Niklas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Niklas today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Niklas births was 2000 (90 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Niklas. 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 Niklas with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 205,242 Americans
Peak year
2000
90 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#13,606
Tracked since 1976
Census
Niklas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,715 people with the first name Niklas, which placed it at #8,455 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
#8,455
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,715 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Niklas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Niklas is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Niklas 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 Niklas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.8% · 1,471
- Hispanic or Latino6.0% · 103
- Two or more races5.2% · 89
- Black or African American1.5% · 25
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.2% · 20
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 7
Popularity
Niklas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Niklas from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 686 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Niklas 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 Niklas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Niklas' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. California, Michigan, Minnesota recorded the most babies named Niklas, while Washington, Ohio, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Niklas
The name Niklas is a masculine given name of Scandinavian origin, derived from the Greek name Nikolaos, which itself is a compound of the words "niko" meaning "victory" and "laos" meaning "people." The name Nikolaos was later Latinized to Nicolaus, from which the modern forms Nicholas and Niklas emerged.
In its earliest recorded use, the name Niklas appeared in Old Norse texts as Niklas or Nikulas, referring to the 4th-century saint and bishop of Myra, Saint Nicholas. The name gained popularity in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages as a result of the widespread veneration of Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children, sailors, and various other groups.
One of the earliest known historical figures bearing the name Niklas was Niklas Ragvaldsson (c. 1130–1192), a Swedish nobleman and jarl (earl) who played a significant role in the consolidation of Sweden's power during the 12th century. Another notable early bearer of the name was Niklas Hermansson (c. 1330–1391), a Swedish clergyman and scholar who served as the Bishop of Linköping from 1375 until his death.
During the Renaissance period, the name Niklas gained further prominence with individuals such as Niklas Kopernik (1473–1543), the Polish astronomer better known by his Latinized name Nicolaus Copernicus, who revolutionized the study of astronomy with his heliocentric model of the solar system. Another influential figure was Niklas Hausmann (1479–1538), a German painter and wood carver who made significant contributions to the art of the Northern Renaissance.
In more recent history, several notable individuals have borne the name Niklas, including Niklas Zennström (born 1966), the Swedish entrepreneur and co-founder of Skype; Niklas Lidström (born 1970), the Swedish professional ice hockey player and member of the Hockey Hall of Fame; and Niklas Süle (born 1995), the German professional soccer player who currently plays for Borussia Dortmund and the German national team.
Throughout its long history, the name Niklas has been consistently associated with individuals of Scandinavian and Northern European descent, reflecting its origins in the Old Norse language and the enduring cultural significance of Saint Nicholas in these regions.
People
Niklas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Niklas 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
Niklas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Niklas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,670 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Niklas 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 205,242 US residents.
Is Niklas a common name?
We classify Niklas as "Rare". It ranks above 92.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,701 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Niklas most popular?
The single biggest year for Niklas was 2000, when 90 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Niklas is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Niklas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,715 people with the name Niklas, or 0.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,455 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 Niklas 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 Niklas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Niklas appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,711 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Niklas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Niklas is White at 85.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (6.0%) and Two or More Races (5.2%). 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 Niklas most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Niklas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.8% (1,471 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 Niklas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Niklas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Niklas 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 Niklas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Niklas 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 Niklas 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 share the name Niklas?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.