How popular is the baby name Nicholas in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Nicholas.

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Popularity of the baby name Nicholas


Posts that mention the name Nicholas

Biggest changes in boy name popularity, 2011

Which boy names saw the biggest increases in popularity from 2010 to 2011? How about the biggest decreases?

According to the numbers, Mason was the winner. (Same as last year, in fact.)

  1. Mason, +4597 babies (rank change: 12th to 2nd)
  2. Liam, +2442 babies (rank change: 30th to 15th)
  3. Bentley, +1774 babies (rank change: 100th to 75th)
  4. Axel, +1059 babies (rank change: 187th to 132nd)
  5. Easton, +1037 babies (rank change: 145th to 102nd)
  6. Jace, +1020 babies (rank change: 146th to 106th)
  7. Ayden, +968 babies (rank change: 79th to 70th)
  8. Declan, +891 babies (rank change: 274th to 177th)
  9. Blake, +885 babies (rank change: 87th to 73rd)
  10. Jaxon, +878 babies (rank change: 99th to 86th)

The loser? Jacob:

  1. Jacob, -1858 babies (rank change: 1st to 1st)
  2. Joshua, -1754 babies (rank change: 11th to 14th)
  3. Tyler, -1649 babies (rank change: 34th to 38th)
  4. Ethan, -1389 babies (rank change: 2nd to 7th)
  5. Christopher, -1318 babies (rank change: 13th to 21st)
  6. Angel, -1253 babies (rank change: 42nd to 52nd)
  7. Anthony, -1252 babies (rank change: 10th to 11th)
  8. Evan, -1111 babies (rank change: 36th to 40th)
  9. Alexander, -1110 babies (rank change: 6th to 8th)
  10. Nicholas, -1089 babies (rank change: 37th to 42nd)

Last year’s loser, Joshua, was this year’s runner-up.

And here’s something confusing for you: boy names that decreased in usage but increased in rank include James, Gavin, Caleb, Luke, Charles, Brayden and Kaleb.

Biggest changes in boy name popularity, 2010

For the last few years, the SSA has re-ordered the top 500 (or so) baby names according to rank change.

Below I’ve done the same sort of analysis, but I changed two things. First, I focused on the number of babies instead of on rankings. Second, I looked at the entire list, not just the top 500.

And that’s why these lists and the SSA’s lists look so different. :)

The boy names that increased and decreased the most in terms of usage are below. The girl names were in the last post.

Biggest Increases, 2009 to 2010

  1. Mason, +4074 babies (rank change: 34th to 12th)
  2. Bentley, +3221 (515th to 101st)
  3. Liam, +2317 (49th to 30th)
  4. Eli, +1601 (90th to 65th)
  5. Easton, +1330 (253rd to 145th)
  6. Grayson, +1077 (173rd to 122nd)
  7. Elijah, +984 (22nd to 18th)
  8. Levi, +935 (85th to 70th)
  9. Jacob, +839 (1st to 1st)
  10. Bryson, +771 (151st to 120th)
  11. Lucas, +727 (39th to 35th)
  12. Axel, +645 (264th to 187th)
  13. Colton, +516 (93rd to 73rd)
  14. Jeremiah, +485 (65th to 52nd)
  15. Asher, +474 (165th to 139th)
  16. Brayden, +474 (48th to 40th)
  17. Greyson, +451 (347th to 249th)
  18. Henry, +448 (71st to 67th)
  19. Miles, +434 (162nd to 137th)
  20. Jaxon, +423 (124th to 99th)

Biggest Decreases, 2009 to 2010

  1. Joshua, -2311 babies (rank change: 6th to 11th)
  2. Christopher, -2129 (10th to 13th)
  3. Matthew, -1941 (13th to 16th)
  4. Ethan, -1917 (2nd to 2nd)
  5. Daniel, -1777 (7th to 8th)
  6. Michael, -1689 (3rd to 3rd)
  7. Christian, -1620 (23rd to 29th)
  8. Alexander, -1541 (4th to 6th)
  9. Aidan, -1523 (72nd to 94th)
  10. Kevin, -1476 (44th to 58th)
  11. Brandon, -1331 (38th to 43rd)
  12. David, -1328 (14th to 15th)
  13. Nicholas, -1252 (32nd to 38th)
  14. Ryan, -1185 (19th to 23rd)
  15. Joseph, -1162 (15th to 20th)
  16. Gavin, -1159 (33rd to 37th)
  17. Jose, -1139 (43th to 51st)
  18. Tyler, -1130 (28th to 34th)
  19. Angel, -1102 (37th to 42nd)
  20. Juan, -1048 (67th to 75th)

As with the girl names, three of the above (Jacob, Ethan and Michael) were big winners/losers according to the numbers, but their rankings stayed the same.

First names from King Henry III’s fine rolls (1200s)

Henry III of England
Henry III of England

I’ve got some 13th-century English names for you today!

They come from the fine rolls of Henry III of England (1216–1272).

“Fine rolls” were basically financial records. They kept track of money offered to the king in return for concessions and favors. King Henry III wasn’t the first to keep them, but they “expand[ed] considerably in size and content during Henry’s reign.”

For a time, the Henry III Fine Rolls Project — the aim of which was to “democratize the contents” of Henry III’s fine rolls “by making them freely available in English translation to everyone via a website” — hosted a sortable database of all the given names in the rolls. While that database was available, I used it to create lists of the most-mentioned male and female names. (All the names are still online, but they’re no longer sortable.)

The rankings below — which cover a wide range of birth years, and a small segment of society — aren’t the same as the single-year, society-wide baby name rankings we’re accustomed to. But they do give us a general idea of which names were the most popular during the 1200s.

Of the 8,423 male names in the fine rolls, these were the most popular:

  1. William (1,217 mentions)
  2. John (669)
  3. Richard (495)
  4. Robert (434)
  5. Henry (376)
  6. Ralph (365)
  7. Thomas (351)
  8. Walter (346)
  9. Roger (337)
  10. Hugh (297)
  11. Geoffrey (261)
  12. Simon (218)
  13. Adam (200)
  14. Nicholas, Peter (180 each)
  15. Gilbert (157)
  16. Alan (110)
  17. Phillip (109)
  18. Reginald (88)
  19. Stephen (83)
  20. Elias (66)
  21. Alexander (65)
  22. Osbert (52)
  23. Eustace (44)
  24. Andrew, Matthew (42 each)
  25. Ranulf (40)

Other names on the men’s list: Hamo, Fulk, Payn, Waleran, Drogo, Engeram, Amfrid, Ratikin, Walkelin, Bonefey, Fulcher, Hasculf, Herlewin, Joldwin, Lefsi, Marmaduke, Orm, Albizium, Cocky, Deulobene, Gwenwynwyn, Markewart.

Of the 1,314 female names in the fine rolls, these were the most popular:

  1. Alice (140 mentions)
  2. Matilda (138)
  3. Agnes (76)
  4. Margaret (69)
  5. Joan (62)
  6. Isabella (60)
  7. Emma (37)
  8. Beatrice (34)
  9. Mabel (33)
  10. Cecilia (32)
  11. Christiana (30)
  12. Hawise (29)
  13. Juliana (27)
  14. Sibyl (25)
  15. Rose (21)
  16. Sarra (16)
  17. Helewise (15)
  18. Avice, Eleanor, Eva, Lucy (14 each)
  19. Leticia (13)
  20. Felicia (12)
  21. Isolda, Margery, Petronilla (11 each)
  22. Ascelina, Edith (10 each)
  23. Phillippa (9)
  24. Amice, Elena, Katherine, Mary, Sabina (8 each)
  25. Basilia, Muriel (7 each)

Other names on the women’s list: Albrea, Amabilia, Eustachia, Idonea, Egidia, Millicent, Amphelisa, Avegaya, Barbata, Comitessa, Frethesenta, Wulveva, Alveva, Dervorguilla, Deulecresse, Elizabeth (just 1!), Flandrina, Oriolda.

A researcher working on the project reported that, of all the men mentioned in the rolls, 14.4% were named William and 7.9% were named John. She also noted that, just like today, the female names showed a greater amount of diversity:

Compared with 57.8 per cent of the men, only 51.8 per cent of the women had one of the top ten names. And 9.44 per cent of the women had names that occurred only once, whereas 3.38 per cent of the men had names that occurred only once.

See any names you like?

Sources: The Henry III Fine Rolls by David Carpenter, The Henry III Fine Rolls Project, ‘William’ most popular medieval name – King’s College London
Image: Henry III (13th-century illustration)

[Latest update: June 2023]

Armenian baby named for French president

French politician Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy

Mr. and Mrs. Karapet Avetisian of Gyumri, Armenia, had a their first child, a baby boy, several days ago.

They named him Sarkozy Avetisian in honor of French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Why?

As a thank-you to the French Senate for approving the Armenian genocide bill on January 23. The bill “criminalizes the assertion that the World War I slaughter of ethnic Armenians in Ottoman-era Turkey was not an act of genocide.”

Avetisian said:

We were going to give him the name of his grandfather but, after the French Senate passed this law in spite of the Turks’ threats, we decided to baptise him in honour of the French president.

Sarkozy is expected to sign the bill into law within the next week or two.

[Believe it or not, this isn’t the first (or even the second!) French president-inspired Armenian baby name. In 2001, the year France officially recognized the Armenian killings as genocide in the first place, Armenian twins were named Jacques and Chirac after then-President Jacques Chirac.]

Sources:

Image: EPP Summit 14 December 2006 by European People’s Party under CC BY 2.0.