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

Older siblings vote for baby’s name

In early 1965, Marius and Anne Spada of Towaco, New Jersey, welcomed a baby boy — their 16th child. They didn’t give him a name, though. They had their older children vote on his name, pursuant to family tradition.

Of the 15 older children, 13 took part in the election. They were Anselm (19), Marie (18), Lucille (16), James (15), Jennifer (14), Victoria (13), twins Larry and Laurie (12), Patrick (9), Nicholas (8), Annette (7), Teresa (5) and Christopher (4). The two not taking part were Joseph (17) and Marius Jr. (2). Joseph was away on Army duty, and Marius Jr. was considered too young.

The parents had no say in the balloting. “We leave it entirely up to them,” Marius Sr. (44) told the papers. “I used to be able to sway the election, but I guess I’m too old now politically to carry much weight.”

The winning name was Dominick, with 11 votes. Marius Sr. explained that the name was inspired by “a priest, Father Dominick, who’s a friend of the family.” Runners-up were John and Anthony, with 1 vote each.

Source: “‘Decision of Lifetime’ Made by Youngsters.” Spokane Daily Chronicle 20 Jan. 1965: 27.

Popular baby names in Malta, 2009

Flag of Malta
Flag of Malta

The last time I wrote about popular baby names in Malta was two years ago. It’s time for an update!

A total of 4,143 babies were born in Malta in 2009. (In 2006, the number was 3,885.) These were the most popular baby names last year:

Girl Names

  1. Maria/Mariah/Marie, 82 baby girls
  2. Elena/Ylenia/Ella, 79
  3. Christina/Kristina/Krista, 63
  4. Eliza/Elizabeth/Lisa, 52
  5. Amy/Aimee, 49
  6. Julia/Gulia, 45
  7. Maya/Maia, 39 [tie]
  8. Emma, 39 [tie]
  9. Martina, 33
  10. Rihanna/Rhiana, 32
  11. Jasmine/Yasmine 31
  12. Keira, 29
  13. Mikela/Michaela, 28
  14. Jade 27
  15. Hannah/Anna/Ann, 26
  16. Nicole, 25 [3-way tie]
  17. Mireille, 25 [3-way tie]
  18. Hailey/Hayley, 25 [3-way tie]
  19. Sarah/Sara, 24
  20. Emilia, 22 [tie]
  21. Lea, 22 [tie]
  22. Thea, 20
  23. Shania, 18 [4-way tie]
  24. Katrina/Kate, 18 [4-way tie]
  25. Amber, 18 [4-way tie]
  26. Kailey/Kayleigh, 18 [4-way tie]
  27. Faith, 17 [tie]
  28. Laura, 17 [tie]

Boy Names

  1. Luke/Luca, 92 baby boys
  2. Matthew/Matthias/Matteo, 84
  3. Jake, 59
  4. Aiden, 53
  5. Jaden/Jayden, 51
  6. John/Giovanni/Jean, 48
  7. Kaiden/Kayden, 47
  8. Michael/Miguel/Mikele, 46
  9. Nicholas/Nick, 42
  10. Isaac/Izaak, 39
  11. Nathan, 38
  12. Liam/William, 36 [tie]
  13. Gabriel, 36 [tie]
  14. Benjamin/Ben, 35
  15. Alexander/Alessandro/Alejandro, 34 [tie]
  16. Zachary/Zak, 34 [tie]
  17. James, 33 [tie]
  18. Daniel, 33 [tie]
  19. Denzel/Danzil, 31
  20. Keiran, 29
  21. Andre/Andrew/Andrea, 26 [tie]
  22. Sven, 26 [tie]
  23. Julian, 25
  24. Kyle, 24 [tie]
  25. Joseph/Giuseppe/Beppe, 24 [tie]

You’ll notice that Malta still lumps variants together. (They even lump non-variants like Elena and Ella together.) I’m not a big fan of this method because when groupings change from year to year, comparisons become impossible.

Malta also seems to have some issues with spelling. Aidan and Kieran became Aiden and Keiran between 2006 and 2009, for instance. And I wonder if “Gulia” wasn’t supposed to be spelled “Giulia.” (Though I do like the fact that there’s a “Julia/Gulia” grouping. Very Wedding Singer-esque.)

But it’s interesting stuff nonetheless. I’m especially intrigued by all the -ayden names on the boys’ list. (Worldwide phenomenon, anyone?)

If you want to see more from Malta, the top baby names of 2008, 2007, 2004/2005, 2003 and 2002 are available for download.

Source: National Statistics Office – Malta

Image: Adapted from Flag of Malta (public domain)

Popular baby names in Malta, 2007

Flag of Malta
Flag of Malta

Malta seems to be having some trouble tallying baby names. According to the island’s National Statistics Office, these were the top boy names of 2007:

  1. Luke/Luca, 98 baby boys
  2. Matthew/Matteo/Matthias, 88
  3. Jake, 56
  4. Julian, 40
  5. John/Gianni/Jean/Juan/Sean, 38
  6. Nicholas/Nikolai & Aiden, 37 (tie)
  7. Kieran, 35
  8. Isaac, 34
  9. Andrew/André/Andrea & Zack, 33 (tie)
  10. Nathan/Nathaniel, 32
  11. Jeremy/Jerome & James/Jamie & Jayden, 31 (tie)
  12. Daniel & Gabriel & Miguel, 29 (tie)
  13. Liam, 28
  14. Alexander/Alessandro/Alejandro & Neil, 26 (tie)
  15. Michael/Mikiel/Mikail/Michele & Carl/Carlo/Karl & Kyle, 24 (3-way tie)
  16. Benjamin & Thomas/Tommaso, 20 (tie)
  17. Christian/Kristian, 18
  18. Mark/Marc/Marco, 17
  19. Dejan & Denzel, 16 (tie)
  20. Kayden, 13

There’s nothing wrong with the list itself. But problems begin when you try to compare this list with the 2006 list.

For instance, in 2006, 49 boys were named Michael or Michele. A year later, there’s no way to tell if either of these names has became more or less popular — all we know is that 24 boys were named Michael, Michele Mikiel or Mikail, and that 29 boys were named Miguel specifically.

And that’s just the beginning. Between 2006 and 2007, Nicholas became Nicholas/Nikolai, Thomas became Thomas/Tommaso, and James became James/Jamie. Alexander became Alexander/Alessandro/Alejandro, while (accent-less) Andre became Andrew/André/Andrea. All of these odd groupings make it impossible to draw conclusions about how the popularity level of a specific name has changed over time.

I am also suspicious about spelling. Aidan (#6) and Jaydon (#19) from the 2006 list seemed to morph into Aiden (#6) and Jayden (#11) in 2007.

Finally — and this may be nit-picky — I dislike how Jeremy and Jerome were lumped together. The names may look alike, but they are unrelated.

I have issues with the girl names as well:

  1. Maria/Mariah, 73 baby girls
  2. Martina, 47
  3. Julia/Giulia, 42
  4. Christina/Kristina/Christine/Christa, 41
  5. Elisa/Eliza/Elizabeth, 39
  6. Sarah, 36
  7. Emma & Maya, 34 (tie)
  8. Nicole/Nicola/Nicolette, 31
  9. Amy & Jasmine/Yasmine, 30 (tie)
  10. Michela/Michelle, 29
  11. Katrina/Katie & Shania, 27 (tie)
  12. Aaliyah & Hayley & Jade, 21 (tie)
  13. Alexandra/Alessandra/Alessia, 20
  14. Francesca & Ylenia, 19 (tie)
  15. Kylie, 18
  16. Kaya, 17
  17. Emily & Kayleigh, 16 (tie)
  18. Kelsey & Leah & Rihanna & Thea, 15 (4-way tie)
  19. Ella & Elena & Kiera & Kyra, 14 (4-way tie)
  20. Hannah, 13

Between 2006 and 2007, Julia became Julia/Giula, Nicole became Nicole/Nicola/Nicolette, Jasmin (sans e) became Jasmine/Yasmine, and Elisa/Eliza became Elisa/Eliza/Elisabeth. Michela went from being grouped with Michaela to being grouped with Michelle.

And, as with the boys, I don’t think spelling stayed consistent. Hailey (#10, 2006) became Hayley (#12, 2007) and Kaylie (#17, 2006) became Kayleigh (#17, 2007).

Malta, you’re driving me crazy! I hope the top names of 2008 are listed more logically, i.e., using name-groupings that have been used before.

Source: Naming Babies: 2007 [pdf]

Image: Adapted from Flag of Malta (public domain)

Popular baby names in the United States, 2007

Flag of the United States
Flag of the United States

The most popular baby names in the U.S. were updated yesterday!

Here are the new top 25 girl names and boys names. The positive and negative numbers indicate how a name has risen or fallen in rank since 2006.

Girl Names

  1. Emily (0)
  2. Isabella (+2)
  3. Emma (-1)
  4. Ava (+1)
  5. Madison (-2)
  6. Sophia (+3)
  7. Olivia (0)
  8. Abigail (-2)
  9. Hannah (-1)
  10. Elizabeth (+1)
  11. Addison (+17)
  12. Samantha (-2)
  13. Ashley (-1)
  14. Alyssa (+5)
  15. Mia (-2)
  16. Chloe (+2)
  17. Natalie (0)
  18. Sarah (-3)
  19. Alexis (-5)
  20. Grace (-4)
  21. Ella (0)
  22. Brianna (-2)
  23. Hailey (+2)
  24. Taylor (-1)
  25. Anna (-3)

Boy Names

  1. Jacob (0)
  2. Michael (0)
  3. Ethan (+1)
  4. Joshua (-1)
  5. Daniel (+1)
  6. Christopher (+1)
  7. Anthony (+2)
  8. William (+2)
  9. Matthew (-4)
  10. Andrew (-2)
  11. Alexander (+1)
  12. David (+1)
  13. Joseph (-2)
  14. Noah (+1)
  15. James (+1)
  16. Ryan (-2)
  17. Logan (+2)
  18. Jayden (+31)
  19. John (+1)
  20. Nicholas (-3)
  21. Tyler (-3)
  22. Christian (-1)
  23. Jonathan (-1)
  24. Nathan (-1)
  25. Samuel (0)

The biggest jump on the boys’ list was Jayden — 31 spots (!), from 49th to 18th. The number of baby boys named Jayden rose from 9,550 (0.44%) in 2006 to 15,025 (0.69%) in 2007.

The biggest jump on the girls’ list was Addison — 17 spots, from 28th to 11th. The number of baby girls named Addison increased from 7,599 (0.37%) in 2006 to 11,823 (0.57%) in 2007.

Here’s more from the SSA’s news release:

Although “American Idol’s” Sanjaya did not influence this year’s list, other young celebrities influenced the naming of American children. The 2007 success of popular race car driver Danica Patrick undoubtedly inspired her first name moving from number 352 to number 307. Similarly, the name of the first pick in the 2007 NFL draft, Oakland Raiders’ quarterback JaMarcus Russell, rose from number 914 to number 743 on the boys’ list.

Shiloh, the youngest daughter of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, debuted on the list at number 804. Maddox, the name of their oldest child, has seen steady gains since first appearing on the list in 2003 at number 583 and now ranking at number 226. Suri, the name of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ daughter, did not make the list. But Britney Spears’ second son is named Jayden, which ranked at number 18. Miley is new to the girls’ list this year, entering fairly high at number 278, attributable to the popularity of teen sensation Miley Cyrus.

For reasons likely to puzzle baby name experts around the world, American parents have become infatuated by names, particularly for their sons, that rhyme with the word “maiden.” These names for boys include: Jayden (No. 18); Aiden (No. 27); Aidan (No. 54); Jaden (No. 76); Caden (No. 92); Kaden (No. 98); Ayden (No.102); Braden (No.156); Cayden (No.175); Jaiden (No.191); Kaiden (No. 220); Aden (No. 264); Caiden (No. 286); Braeden (No. 325); Braydon (No. 361); Jaydon (No. 415); Jadon (No. 423); Braiden (No. 529); Zayden (No. 588); Jaeden (No. 593); Aydan (No. 598); Bradyn (No. 629); Kadin (No. 657); Jadyn (No. 696); Kaeden (No. 701); Jaydin (No. 757); Braedon (No. 805); Aidyn (No. 818); Haiden (No. 820); Jaidyn (No. 841); Kadyn (No. 878); Jaydan (No. 887); Raiden (No. 931); and Adin (No. 983).  This startling trend was present, but less pronounced, with girls names:  Jayden (No. 172); Jadyn (No. 319); Jaden (No. 335); Jaiden (No. 429); Kayden (No. 507); and Jaidyn (No. 561). Social Security spokesman Mark Lassiter indicated that the agency would resist any legislative efforts to standardize the spelling of these names.

Experts also may be surprised by the extent to which American parents are naming their daughters after spiritual and philosophical concepts. One of the most popular names for girls (rising this year to number 31) is Nevaeh, which is “Heaven” spelled backwards. The variant Neveah came in this year at number 891 and Heaven is number 263. Also represented were:  Destiny (No. 41); Trinity (No. 72); Serenity (No. 126); Harmony (No. 315); Miracle (No. 461); Charity (No. 673); Journey (No. 692); Destini (No. 914); and Essence (No. 930). Cutting against this trend was Armani (No. 971). 

American parents were far less likely to name their sons in this way, although the 2007 boys’ list does include Sincere (No. 622) and Messiah (No. 723).

Sources: SSA, Pop Culture Makes Mark on Social Security’s Most Popular Baby Names List – SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United States (public domain)