NameCensus.

UK boy's name

Nikolas

Masculine name meaning "victory of the people" from Greek origin.

For 2026, the newest official UK baby-name figures on this page are from 2024. That release is the current official benchmark rather than a forecast.

Nikolas is a boy's name in the UK records. People looking for Nikolas popularity in 2026 should use the latest official release, which is 2024 in this profile. In that release it ranked #678, with 54 babies registered with the name. Its strongest year in the published records was 2021, with 95 births.

This profile covers 1,328 England and Wales registrations across 29 recorded years from 1996 to 2024. The figures come from ONS England and Wales, NRS Scotland and NISRA Northern Ireland, so the page is a view of published baby-name registrations rather than a forecast or a live count of people using the name today.

The latest count is about 57% of the recorded peak, which gives a quick read on how the name has moved since its high point.

We estimate that about 1,414 living people in the UK are called Nikolas. This uses published birth registrations from England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, then applies ONS national life tables to estimate how many are likely still alive. It does not forecast extra births for 2025 or 2026.

Key insights

  • Nikolas ranked #678 for boys in England and Wales in 2024, with 54 registrations.
  • The name peaked in 2021, when 95 boys were registered as Nikolas.
  • Nikolas ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #346 in 2014.
  • About 1,414 living people in the UK are estimated to have Nikolas as a first name, after adjusting past birth registrations with ONS life tables.

Latest rank (E&W)

#678

2024

Births in 2024

54

Latest year

Peak year

2021

95 births

Estimated living

1,414

2026

Meaning

What does Nikolas mean?

The given name Nikolas is derived from the Greek name Nikolaos, which is a combination of the Greek words "nikan" meaning "to conquer" and "laos" meaning "people." The name can be translated to mean "victor of the people" or "conqueror of the people." This name originated in ancient Greece and has been in use since the 4th century BC.

The name Nikolas gained popularity in the early Christian era due to its association with Saint Nicholas, a 4th-century Christian saint and Greek bishop of Myra in Lycia, which is now part of modern-day Turkey. Saint Nicholas was renowned for his generosity and became the inspiration for the legendary figure of Santa Claus.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Nikolas can be found in the Septuagint, an ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, where it appears as the name of one of the leaders who returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile in the 5th century BC.

Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals with the name Nikolas. One of the most famous was Nikolas of Damascus, a Greek historian, philosopher, and tutor to the Roman emperor Augustus in the 1st century BC.

Another prominent figure was Nikolas of Cusa, a 15th-century German philosopher, mathematician, and theologian who made significant contributions to the Renaissance era. He was born in 1401 and died in 1464.

In the realm of literature, Nikolas Gogol, a Russian novelist and dramatist, is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers of the 19th century. He was born in 1809 and died in 1852.

Nikolas Copernicus, the renowned Polish astronomer who formulated the heliocentric model of the solar system, challenging the long-held geocentric model, was born in 1473 and died in 1543.

Nikolas Tesla, a Serbian-American inventor and electrical engineer, is famous for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system. He was born in 1856 and died in 1943.

Sourced from namecensus.com.

Popularity

Nikolas over time

The chart below shows babies named Nikolas registered in England and Wales in the years where the name appears in the published records, from 1996 to 2024. Empty years are left out so rare names are not stretched across long periods where the published files do not show any registrations.

For Nikolas, the clearest high point is 2021. The latest England and Wales figure is 54 births in 2024, compared with 95 at the peak.

Babies born per year

Nikolas
024487195199620102024

Decades

Nikolas by decade

Decade totals smooth out the yearly jumps and make it easier to see whether Nikolas was a short-lived spike or a name that stayed in regular use. Average rank is calculated only from years where a published rank exists.

Decade Average rank Total births Years covered
2020s #510 400 5
2010s #605 608 10
2000s #930 256 10
1990s #961 64 4

Geography

Where Nikolas is most common

The bars show the latest published local birth counts for Nikolas. They are useful for spotting where the name is showing up in real numbers, while the rank beside each bar shows how strongly it performs inside that region.

Nikolas ranks best in Northern Ireland in the latest published regional snapshot for that area, where it placed #346 in 2014.

Northern Ireland
4
Scotland
3

Across the UK

Nikolas in Scotland and Northern Ireland

Scotland (NRS)

#727 in 2024

21 years of NRS records, 91 total registered

Northern Ireland (NISRA)

#346 in 2014

1 years of NISRA records, 4 total registered

Notable bearers

Famous people named Nikolas

  • Nikolas Rose

    university teacher; sociologist

    British sociologist

    1947-

  • Nikolas Lloyd

    YouTuber

    British YouTuber

Related

Names similar to Nikolas

FAQ

Nikolas: questions and answers

How popular is the name Nikolas in the UK right now?

In 2024, Nikolas was ranked #678 for boys in England and Wales, with 54 births registered.

When was Nikolas most popular?

The peak year on record was 2021, with 95 babies registered as Nikolas in England and Wales.

What is the meaning and origin of Nikolas?

Masculine name meaning "victory of the people" from Greek origin.

How many people are called Nikolas in the UK?

A total of 1,328 babies have been registered as Nikolas across the 29 years of ONS England & Wales records shown here, plus 91 more in Scotland and 4 in Northern Ireland.

Where is Nikolas most common?

In the latest published local rankings, Nikolas ranks best in Northern Ireland, where it placed #346 in 2014. The regional bars on this page use birth counts, so they also reflect the size of each region.

Which records is this page based on?

The England and Wales timeline uses ONS baby-name records. Scotland figures come from NRS and Northern Ireland figures come from NISRA. Counts are registrations in published baby-name files. The living estimate uses those birth registrations with ONS national life tables.