Nicolas

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Nicholas in US United States, GB United Kingdom, AU Australia and 2 more, Николай in RU Russia, KZ Kazakhstan, TR Türkiye and 1 more, Микола in UA Ukraine and Nikolaos in GR Greece.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 13 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Nicolas is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate given name56K records spelled Nicolas8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Ecuador, India, Switzerland

  Also written Nícolas, NicolÃs, Nicolaś, Nicólas, Nicólás

• Indonesian given name18K records spelled Nicolas4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Indonesia, Philippines, Spain

  Also written Nícolas, 'Nicolas, Nicolás

• Swahili given name13K records spelled Nicolas4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Kenya, United States, South Africa, Philippines

  Languages: Swahili, Southern Sotho

  Also written Nicolás

• Finnish given name11K records spelled Nicolas6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Estonia, Switzerland

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written NicolÃs, Nicolás, Nícolas, Nicolàs

• Russian given name3.6K records spelled Nicolas42 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Russia, United States, Ukraine, Spain

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian

  Also written Николя, Ніколя, Nikolya, Nikolia, Nicolaas

112 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Nicolas is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• From the Greek name Νικόλαος (Nikolaos), meaning 'victory of the people' or 'conqueror of the people', derived from the elements νίκη (nikē) meaning 'victory' and λαός (laos) meaning 'people'.

  as a name·Biblical Names Compiled Database

• In French, From Greek nikē + laos, 'victory of the people'; name of Saint Nicolas.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In French, From Gk. Nikolaos, 'victory of the people'; saint name.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In French, From Greek Nikolaos, meaning 'victory of the people'.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In French, From Greek Nikolaos, 'victory of the people'.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 129 years between 1882–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Nicholas Ib. 820ITnot in their usual namepope
• Nicolaus IIIb. 1215ITnot in their usual namePope from 1277 to 1280
• Nicholas IVb. 1227ITnot in their usual namepope of the Catholic Church from 1288 to 1292 (1227–1292)
• Georges Cuvierb. 1769FRnot in their usual nameFrench naturalist, zoologist and paleontologist (1769–1832)
• Sadi Carnotb. 1796FRnot in their usual nameFrench physicist, the "father of thermodynamics" (1796–1832)
• Camille Flammarionb. 1842FRnot in their usual nameFrench astronomer and author (1842–1925)
• François Hollandeb. 1954FRnot in their usual namePresident of France from 2012 to 2017 (born 1954)
• Nicolas Sarkozyb. 1955FR23rd president of the French Republic from 2007 to 2012
• Nicolas Anelkab. 1979FRFrench football manager (born 1979)
• Nicolás Otamendib. 1988ARArgentine association football player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,932 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Nicolas?

We estimate roughly 2.3 million people bear Nicolas (counting its spellings and scripts) across 13 countries in our records.

In which country does Nicolas have the most bearers?

Nicolas is most frequently recorded in Russia, where it is most often spelled николай.

How common is Nicolas compared with other names?

In Russia, Nicolas is the 14th most common given name of 418,751 given names recorded there.

Is Nicolas a male or female name?

Nicolas is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Nicolas mean?

Recorded meaning: The name Nicolas, of Greek origin, means 'victory of the people.'