Nikolay
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "victory of the people".
Name Census estimates that about 487 living Americans carry the first name Nikolay. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nikolay today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nikolay births was 2010 (32 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nikolay. 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 Nikolay with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
487
~ 1 in 703,808 Americans
Peak year
2010
32 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,172
Tracked since 1992
Census
Nikolay in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,746 people with the first name Nikolay, which placed it at #4,080 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
#4,080
National first-name rank
People counted
4.7K
4,746 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
96.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nikolay
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nikolay is White at 96.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.2%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Nikolay 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 Nikolay at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White96.8% · 4,596
- Hispanic or Latino1.2% · 56
- Two or more races0.9% · 42
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 33
- Black or African American0.4% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.0% · 1
Popularity
Nikolay: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nikolay from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 219 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nikolay remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nikolay 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 Nikolay during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Nikolays live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. California, Florida, Texas recorded the most babies named Nikolay, while Washington, Texas, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nikolay
The name Nikolay has its origins in the Greek language, derived from the combination of the words "niko" meaning "victory" and "laos" meaning "people." It is a masculine name that has been widely used across various cultures and time periods.
The earliest recorded use of the name Nikolay can be traced back to the 4th century AD, when it was given to Saint Nicholas of Myra, a Christian saint known for his generosity and kindness towards children. Saint Nicholas was a Greek Christian bishop who lived in the ancient Greek city of Myra, located in modern-day Turkey.
In the Byzantine Empire, the name Nikolay became popular among the ruling classes and was often bestowed upon princes and nobles. One notable example is Nikolay I Mystikos, a Byzantine patriarch who lived in the 9th century AD and played a significant role in the development of the Orthodox Christian Church.
During the Middle Ages, the name Nikolay spread across Europe and was adopted by various cultures and languages. In Russia, the name took on the form "Nikolai" and became a popular choice among the Russian nobility and royalty. One of the most famous Russian tsars, Nicholas II, born in 1868, was given this name.
The name Nikolay has also been associated with several prominent figures in literature and the arts. Nikolay Gogol, a Ukrainian-born Russian novelist and playwright (1809-1852), is renowned for his satirical works such as "Dead Souls" and "The Government Inspector." Another notable figure is Nikolay Leskov, a Russian novelist and short story writer (1831-1895), known for his realistic depictions of Russian life.
In the field of science, Nikolay Vavilov (1887-1943) was a prominent Soviet botanist and geneticist who made significant contributions to the study of plant genetics and the origins of cultivated plants. Nikolay Semyonov (1896-1986) was a Russian chemist who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1956 for his work on the mechanism of chemical reactions.
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) was a renowned Russian composer and a member of the influential group of composers known as "The Five." His works, such as the orchestral suite "Scheherazade," are considered masterpieces of Russian Romantic music.
The name Nikolay has been carried through generations, transcending cultural boundaries and leaving an indelible mark on various aspects of human civilization, from religion and literature to science and the arts.
People
Nikolay + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nikolay 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
Nikolay: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nikolay?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 487 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nikolay 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 703,808 US residents.
Is Nikolay a common name?
We classify Nikolay as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 492 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nikolay most popular?
The single biggest year for Nikolay was 2010, when 32 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nikolay is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nikolay in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,746 people with the name Nikolay, or 1.57 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,080 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 Nikolay 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 Nikolay?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Nikolay appears almost entirely male. Of the 4,746 people counted with this name, 100.0% 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 Nikolay?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nikolay is White at 96.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (1.2%) and Two or More Races (0.9%). 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 Nikolay most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Nikolay in the 2020 Census, accounting for 96.8% (4,596 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 Nikolay in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nikolay a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nikolay 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 Nikolay still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nikolay 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 Nikolay 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 are named Nikolay?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Nikolay at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.