Nivek
Kevin spelled backward, lacking literal meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 172 living Americans carry the first name Nivek. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Nivek today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Nivek births was 2013 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Nivek. 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.
People living today
172
~ 1 in 1,992,758 Americans
Peak year
2013
11 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2023 SSA rank
#8,084
Tracked since 2000
Census
Nivek in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 159 people with the first name Nivek, which placed it at #43,953 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
#43,953
National first-name rank
People counted
159
159 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
37.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Nivek
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nivek is Black at 37.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.5%) and White (22.0%). 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 Nivek 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 Nivek at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American37.7% · 60
- Hispanic or Latino24.5% · 39
- White22.0% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.9% · 11
- Two or more races6.9% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.9% · 3
Popularity
Nivek: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Nivek from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 76 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Nivek remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Nivek 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 Nivek during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Nivek
The name Nivek has its origins in the ancient Sumerian language, one of the earliest known written languages dating back to around 3500 BC. It is derived from the Sumerian word "kin-ev," which roughly translates to "eternal guardian" or "protector of the realm." The name was popular among the ruling class of the Sumerian city-states, particularly in the region now known as southern Iraq.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nivek can be found in a cuneiform tablet from the city of Uruk, dating back to around 2800 BC. The tablet mentions a Sumerian king named Nivek-Ilu, who is believed to have reigned over the city-state of Uruk for a brief period.
In the ancient Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, considered one of the earliest known works of literature, there is a reference to a character named Nivek-Anum, who is described as a wise and respected elder of the city of Uruk. This text dates back to around 2100 BC.
As the Sumerian civilization declined and was eventually absorbed into the Babylonian and Assyrian empires, the name Nivek fell out of widespread use. However, it resurfaced briefly during the Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD), which ruled over parts of modern-day Iran and Iraq. A notable figure from this period was Nivek-Mithra, a Parthian general who led a successful campaign against the Roman Empire in the 2nd century AD.
In the medieval period, there are a few scattered references to individuals with the name Nivek, primarily in the records of Christian monasteries in the Middle East. One such example is Nivek of Edessa, a 6th-century monk and scholar who is known for his translations of Greek theological texts into Syriac.
Other notable individuals with the name Nivek throughout history include:
1. Nivek the Younger (c. 1050 AD), a Byzantine poet and playwright from Constantinople.
2. Nivek al-Qadiri (1188 – 1263), a renowned Sufi mystic and philosopher from Baghdad.
3. Nivek Ibn Battuta (1304 – 1368/1369), a famous Moroccan scholar and explorer who traveled extensively throughout the medieval Islamic world.
4. Nivek al-Jazari (1136 – 1206), a Muslim polymath from Diyarbakır, now in Turkey, known for his pioneering work in the field of mechanical engineering.
5. Nivek al-Hashimi (1892 – 1977), an Iraqi statesman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Iraq in the mid-20th century.
While the name Nivek has its roots in ancient Sumerian culture, it has managed to survive and maintain a presence, albeit a limited one, throughout various periods of history across the Middle East and beyond.
People
Nivek + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Nivek 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
Nivek: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Nivek?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 172 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Nivek 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 1,992,758 US residents.
Is Nivek a common name?
We classify Nivek as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 174 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Nivek most popular?
The single biggest year for Nivek was 2013, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Nivek is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Nivek in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 159 people with the name Nivek, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #43,953 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 Nivek 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 Nivek?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Nivek on both sides of the split. Of the 163 people counted with this name, 125 were male (76.7%) and 38 were female (23.3%). 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 Nivek?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Nivek is Black at 37.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.5%) and White (22.0%). 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 Nivek most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Nivek in the 2020 Census, accounting for 37.7% (60 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 Nivek in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Nivek a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Nivek 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 Nivek still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Nivek 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 Nivek 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 common is the name Nivek?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Nivek at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.