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

Girl names that end with an L-sound

Girl names that end with an L-sound

In the U.S., most of the names given to baby girls end with a vowel sound. And many of the remaining names end with an N-sound.

So, what about girl names that end with other sounds?

Below is a selection of girl names that end with an L-sound, regardless of last letter. The names are ordered by current popularity.

Abigail
From the Hebrew name Avigayil, which is made up of elements meaning “father” and “joy.” Here’s the popularity graph for Abigail.

Hazel
From the type of tree, or from the color (which is the hue of a ripe hazelnut). Here’s the popularity graph for Hazel.

Brielle
A short form of the French name Gabrielle. Here’s the popularity graph for Brielle.

Isabelle
Based on Elizabeth, which is derived from a Hebrew name made up of elements meaning “god” and “oath.” Here’s the popularity graph for Isabelle.

Noelle
A feminine form of the French name Noel, meaning “Christmas.” Here’s the popularity graph for Noelle.

Camille
A French feminine form of the Roman name Camillus, which is of unknown meaning. Here’s the popularity graph for Camille.

Ariel
A Hebrew name meaning “lion of god.” Here’s the popularity graph for Ariel.

Rachel
A Hebrew name meaning “ewe.” Here’s the popularity graph for Rachel.

Lucille
A French feminine form of the Roman name Lucius, meaning “light.” Here’s the popularity graph for Lucille.

Kendall
From the English surname, which is derived from the place name Kendal, meaning “Kent valley” (i.e., valley by the River Kent). Here’s the popularity graph for Kendall.

Mabel
A Medieval feminine form of the late Roman name Amabilis, meaning “lovable.” Here’s the popularity graph for Mabel.

Nicole
A French feminine form of Nicholas, which is derived from an Ancient Greek name made up of elements meaning “victory” and “people.” Here’s the popularity graph for Nicole.

Annabelle
A form of the Medieval feminine name Amabel (derived from the late Roman name Amabilis, meaning “lovable”), influenced by the name Anna and French word belle (meaning “beautiful”). Here’s the popularity graph for Annabelle.

Giselle
From a Germanic word meaning “hostage.” Here’s the popularity graph for Giselle.

Michelle
A French feminine form of Michael, which is derived from a Hebrew name meaning “who is like god?” Here’s the popularity graph for Michelle.

Elle
A diminutive of names that start with El-, or a short form of names that end with -elle. Here’s the popularity graph for Elle.

Miracle
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Miracle.

Danielle
A French feminine form of Daniel, which is derived from a Hebrew name meaning “god is my judge.” Here’s the popularity graph for Danielle.

Itzel
Might be based on the Mayan name Ixchel, which may mean “rainbow lady.” Here’s the popularity graph for Itzel.

Gabrielle
A French feminine form of Gabriel, which is derived from a Hebrew name meaning “man of god.” Here’s the popularity graph for Gabrielle.

Bristol
From the English place name, which means “bridge place.” Here’s the popularity graph for Bristol.

Angel
From an Ancient Greek word meaning “messenger.” Here’s the popularity graph for Angel.

Opal
From the type of gemstone. Here’s the popularity graph for Opal.

April
From the name of the month. Here’s the popularity graph for April.

Janelle
A diminutive of Jane. Here’s the popularity graph for Janelle.

Laurel
From the type of tree. Here’s the popularity graph for Laurel.

Estelle
An Old French name meaning “star.” Here’s the popularity graph for Estelle.

Pearl
From the type of gemstone (which is actually a nacreous concretion produced by mollusks). Here’s the popularity graph for Pearl.

Joelle
A feminine form of Joel, which is derived from a Hebrew name meaning “Yahweh is god.” Here’s the popularity graph for Joelle.

Adele
From a Germanic word meaning “noble.” Here’s the popularity graph for Adele.

Marisol
A short form of the Spanish name María Soledad (from the Marian title María de la Soledad). Here’s the popularity graph for Marisol.

Sol
A Spanish and Portuguese word meaning “sun.” Here’s the popularity graph for Sol.

Royal
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Royal.

Aubrielle
An elaboration of Aubrey. Here’s the popularity graph for Aubrielle.

Chanel
From the French fashion house Chanel, named for founder Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel. Here’s the popularity graph for Chanel.

Belle
A short form of names that end with -belle. Here’s the popularity graph for Belle.

Raquel
The Spanish and Portuguese form of Rachel. Here’s the popularity graph for Raquel.

Crystal
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Crystal.

Jewel
From the English vocabulary word. Here’s the popularity graph for Jewel.

Abril
The Spanish form of the name April. Here’s the popularity graph for Abril.

Amal
An Arabic word meaning “hope.” Here’s the popularity graph for Amal.

Campbell
From the Scottish surname, which is derived from a nickname made up of elements meaning “crooked” and “mouth.” Here’s the popularity graph for Campbell.

Azul
The Spanish word for “blue.” Here’s the popularity graph for Azul.

Maple
From the type of tree. Here’s the popularity graph for Maple.

Xochitl
The Nahuatl word for “flower.” Here’s the popularity graph for Xochitl.

Maribel
A short form of the Spanish name María Isabel. Here’s the popularity graph for Maribel.

Yael
From a Hebrew name meaning “ibex” (a type of wild goat). Here’s the popularity graph for Yael.

Mirabel
From the Old French word mirable, meaning “admirable.” Here’s the popularity graph for Mirabel.

Sybil
From the Ancient Greek word sibylla, which referred to a type of prophetess. Here’s the popularity graph for Sybil.

Nell
A Medieval diminutive of names that start with El- or a similar sound. Here’s the popularity graph for Nell.


Less-common girl names that end with an L-sound include Coral, Liesl, Jill, Eshaal, Marvel, Ciel, Layal, and Kestrel.

Which of the above do you like most? What others can you think of?

P.S. Here are lists of girl names that end with D-, K-, M-, R-, S-, T-, V-, and Z-sounds.

Sources:

  • SSA
  • Wikipedia
  • Wiktionary
  • Behind the Name
  • Hanks, Patrick, Kate Hardcastle and Flavia Hodges. (Eds.) A Dictionary of First Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Most popular baby boy names (length by length) in the U.S. in 2023

Lengths of baby boy names in the U.S. in 2023

Going length by length (e.g., 2 letters long, 3 letters long, 4 letters long…), what were last year’s most popular baby boy names?

Before we get to the lists, a few quick facts:

  • The most common length for boy names in 2023 was 6 letters (used 29.38% of the time), followed by 5 letters (26.33%).
  • The length that increased the most in usage for boy names (from 2022 to 2023) was 13 letters.
  • The length that decreased the most in usage for boy names (from 2022 to 2023) was 7 letters.

Top boy names with 2 letters:

  1. Bo, 630 baby boys
  2. Ty, 331
  3. Cy, 75
  4. Aj, 64 (tie)
  5. Om, 64 (tie)
  6. Oz, 40
  7. Jj, 37
  8. Cj, 35 (tie)
  9. Ky, 35 (tie)
  10. Tj, 34

Top boy names with 3 letters:

  1. Leo, 8,120 baby boys
  2. Kai, 4,946
  3. Ian, 4,538
  4. Eli, 4,081
  5. Ace, 2,314
  6. Max, 2,197
  7. Jax, 1,155
  8. Koa, 1,115
  9. Ali, 1,065
  10. Ari, 964

Top boy names with 4 letters:

  1. Liam, 20,802 baby boys
  2. Noah, 18,995
  3. Levi, 9,347
  4. Jack, 8,683
  5. Ezra, 8,437
  6. Owen, 7,985
  7. Luca, 7,770
  8. John, 7,750
  9. Luke, 7,217
  10. Axel, 4,498

Top boy names with 5 letters:

  1. James, 11,670 baby boys
  2. Mateo, 11,229
  3. Henry, 10,941
  4. Lucas, 10,842
  5. Asher, 7,853
  6. Ethan, 7,763
  7. David, 7,354
  8. Mason, 7,237
  9. Dylan, 7,054
  10. Elias, 6,980

Top boy names with 6 letters:

  1. Oliver, 14,741 baby boys
  2. Elijah, 11,452
  3. Daniel, 8,356
  4. Samuel, 7,973
  5. Hudson, 7,935
  6. Joseph, 7,237
  7. Julian, 7,078
  8. Thomas, 6,598
  9. Carter, 5,847
  10. Jayden, 5,627

Top boy names with 7 letters:

  1. William, 10,598 baby boys
  2. Michael, 8,383
  3. Jackson, 7,284
  4. Matthew, 7,190
  5. Gabriel, 6,745
  6. Grayson, 6,449
  7. Anthony, 6,237
  8. Ezekiel, 5,569
  9. Charles, 5,395
  10. Cameron, 5,069

Top boy names with 8 letters:

  1. Theodore, 11,041 baby boys
  2. Benjamin, 10,172
  3. Maverick, 6,962
  4. Santiago, 6,328
  5. Jonathan, 4,066
  6. Leonardo, 4,012
  7. Jeremiah, 3,750
  8. Nicholas, 3,242
  9. Harrison, 3,060
  10. Giovanni, 2,911

Top boy names with 9 letters:

  1. Sebastian, 8,865 baby boys
  2. Alexander, 7,875
  3. Christian, 4,125
  4. Nathaniel, 2,507
  5. Alejandro, 1,825
  6. Remington, 1,184
  7. Francisco, 1,121
  8. Johnathan, 647
  9. Frederick, 595
  10. Valentino, 575

Top boy names with 10 letters:

  1. Alessandro, 555 baby boys
  2. Maximilian, 511
  3. Montgomery, 210
  4. Kristopher, 209
  5. Aleksander, 125
  6. Cristopher, 123
  7. Alexzander, 109
  8. Fitzgerald, 63 (tie)
  9. Theophilus, 63 (tie)
  10. Abdirahman, 50

Top boy names with 11 letters:

  1. Christopher, 5,171 baby boys
  2. Maximiliano, 1,143
  3. Muhammadali, 108
  4. Constantine, 104
  5. Abdulrahman, 103
  6. Maximillian, 63
  7. Abdurrahman, 42
  8. Miguelangel, 38
  9. Bartholomew, 33
  10. Johnmichael, 30

(I’m excluding the longer names because they’re quite rare overall.)

Source: SSA

Most popular baby boy names (letter by letter) in the U.S. in 2023

First letter usage for baby boy names in the U.S. in 2023

Going letter by letter, what were last year’s most popular baby boy names?

Before we get to the lists, a few quick facts:

  • The most common first letter for boy names in 2023 was J (used 10.98% of the time), followed by A (10.51%) and M (7.60%).
  • The least common first letter for boy names in 2023 was U (used 0.15% of the time), followed by Q (0.16%) and X (0.40%).
  • The first letter that increased the most in usage for boy names (from 2022 to 2023) was T.
  • The first letter that decreased the most in usage for boy names (from 2022 to 2023) was J.

Top boy names starting with A:

  1. Alexander, 7,875 baby boys
  2. Asher, 7,853
  3. Aiden, 6,675
  4. Anthony, 6,237
  5. Angel, 4,865
  6. Andrew, 4,781
  7. Adrian, 4,646
  8. Aaron, 4,551
  9. Axel, 4,498
  10. Amir, 3,620

Top boy names starting with B:

  1. Benjamin, 10,172 baby boys
  2. Brooks, 4,469
  3. Bennett, 4,411
  4. Beau, 4,090
  5. Bryson, 2,434
  6. Brayden, 2,274
  7. Braxton, 2,128
  8. Bentley, 1,906
  9. Beckett, 1,865
  10. Beckham, 1,829

Top boy names starting with C:

  1. Carter, 5,847 baby boys
  2. Caleb, 5,488
  3. Cooper, 5,425
  4. Charles, 5,395
  5. Christopher, 5,171
  6. Cameron, 5,069
  7. Christian, 4,125
  8. Colton, 3,696
  9. Carson, 3,200
  10. Connor, 2,855

Top boy names starting with D:

  1. Daniel, 8,356 baby boys
  2. David, 7,354
  3. Dylan, 7,054
  4. Dominic, 3,395
  5. Damian, 3,281
  6. Declan, 2,799
  7. Diego, 2,734
  8. Dawson, 2,439
  9. Dean, 2,281
  10. Dallas, 1,375

Top boy names starting with E:

  1. Elijah, 11,452 baby boys
  2. Ezra, 8,437
  3. Ethan, 7,763
  4. Elias, 6,980
  5. Ezekiel, 5,569
  6. Eli, 4,081
  7. Everett, 3,808
  8. Enzo, 3,796
  9. Easton, 3,637
  10. Emmett, 3,061

Top boy names starting with F:

  1. Finn, 1,907 baby boys
  2. Felix, 1,894
  3. Finley, 1,171
  4. Francisco, 1,121
  5. Fernando, 967
  6. Franklin, 776
  7. Forrest, 737
  8. Francis, 670
  9. Fabian, 656
  10. Frank, 646

Top boy names starting with G:

  1. Gabriel, 6,745 baby boys
  2. Grayson, 6,449
  3. Gael, 3,616
  4. Greyson, 3,065
  5. Giovanni, 2,911
  6. George, 2,689
  7. Graham, 2,533
  8. Griffin, 1,722
  9. Grant, 1,539
  10. Gavin, 1,512

Top boy names starting with H:

  1. Henry, 10,941 baby boys
  2. Hudson, 7,935
  3. Hunter, 3,110
  4. Harrison, 3,060
  5. Hayden, 2,219
  6. Hayes, 1,746
  7. Holden, 1,171
  8. Hendrix, 1,084
  9. Harvey, 1,022
  10. Hector, 828

Top boy names starting with I:

  1. Isaac, 6,581 baby boys
  2. Isaiah, 5,121
  3. Ian, 4,538
  4. Ivan, 2,384
  5. Israel, 1,530
  6. Ismael, 1,421
  7. Iker, 915
  8. Ibrahim, 774
  9. Isaias, 700
  10. Izaiah, 491

Top boy names starting with J:

  1. James, 11,670 baby boys
  2. Jack, 8,683
  3. John, 7,750
  4. Jackson, 7,284
  5. Joseph, 7,237
  6. Julian, 7,078
  7. Jacob, 6,976
  8. Jayden, 5,627
  9. Josiah, 5,404
  10. Joshua, 5,035

Top boy names starting with K:

  1. Kai, 4,946 baby boys
  2. Kayden, 3,120
  3. Kingston, 2,511
  4. Kaiden, 2,126
  5. Kevin, 1,914
  6. Knox, 1,770
  7. Karter, 1,590
  8. Kairo, 1,484
  9. Kyrie, 1,474
  10. Kash, 1,316

Top boy names starting with L:

  1. Liam, 20,802 baby boys
  2. Lucas, 10,842
  3. Levi, 9,347
  4. Leo, 8,120
  5. Luca, 7,770
  6. Luke, 7,217
  7. Logan, 6,686
  8. Lincoln, 4,842
  9. Leonardo, 4,012
  10. Luka, 3,650

Top boy names starting with M:

  1. Mateo, 11,229 baby boys
  2. Michael, 8,383
  3. Mason, 7,237
  4. Matthew, 7,190
  5. Maverick, 6,962
  6. Miles, 6,558
  7. Micah, 3,875
  8. Myles, 3,399
  9. Milo, 2,950
  10. Matteo, 2,503

Top boy names starting with N:

  1. Noah, 18,995 baby boys
  2. Nolan, 5,112
  3. Nathan, 5,049
  4. Nicholas, 3,242
  5. Nathaniel, 2,507
  6. Nicolas, 1,886
  7. Nico, 1,462
  8. Nash, 1,328
  9. Niko, 1,033
  10. Nasir, 739

Top boy names starting with O:

  1. Oliver, 14,741 baby boys
  2. Owen, 7,985
  3. Oscar, 1,693
  4. Omar, 1,306
  5. Otto, 1,191
  6. Onyx, 1,069
  7. Odin, 897
  8. Orion, 861
  9. Oakley, 799
  10. Ozzy, 526

Top boy names starting with P:

  1. Parker, 3,792 baby boys
  2. Peter, 1,738
  3. Patrick, 1,596
  4. Paul, 1,351 (tie)
  5. Paxton, 1,351 (tie)
  6. Phoenix, 1,243
  7. Preston, 1,228
  8. Prince, 885
  9. Pablo, 850
  10. Pedro, 753

Top boy names starting with Q:

  1. Quinn, 685 baby boys
  2. Quincy, 401
  3. Quentin, 334
  4. Quinton, 301
  5. Quintin, 120
  6. Quinten, 88
  7. Quest, 84
  8. Quadir, 70
  9. Quade, 53
  10. Qasim, 51

Top boy names starting with R:

  1. Roman, 4,777 baby boys
  2. Rowan, 4,195
  3. Ryan, 4,020
  4. Robert, 3,807
  5. River, 3,084
  6. Ryder, 2,822
  7. Rhett, 2,183
  8. Ryker, 1,976
  9. Richard, 1,638
  10. Riley, 1,627

Top boy names starting with S:

  1. Sebastian, 8,865 baby boys
  2. Samuel, 7,973
  3. Santiago, 6,328
  4. Silas, 4,070
  5. Sawyer, 2,833
  6. Stetson, 1,987
  7. Simon, 1,398
  8. Steven, 1,387
  9. Saint, 1,059
  10. Sonny, 924

Top boy names starting with T:

  1. Theodore, 11,041 baby boys
  2. Thomas, 6,598
  3. Thiago, 4,505
  4. Theo, 4,122
  5. Tyler, 2,064
  6. Tate, 1,845
  7. Tucker, 1,802
  8. Timothy, 1,733
  9. Tatum, 1,492
  10. Tristan, 1,373

Top boy names starting with U:

  1. Uriel, 606 baby boys
  2. Uriah, 378
  3. Ulises, 221
  4. Ulysses, 169
  5. Umar, 152
  6. Uziel, 111
  7. Usman, 86
  8. Unknown, 67
  9. Uzziah, 65
  10. Uri, 60

Top boy names starting with V:

  1. Vincent, 2,982 baby boys
  2. Victor, 1,687
  3. Valentino, 575
  4. Vicente, 441
  5. Valentin, 372
  6. Vincenzo, 352
  7. Vihaan, 280
  8. Van, 252
  9. Vance, 236
  10. Veer, 224

Top boy names starting with W:

  1. William, 10,598 baby boys
  2. Wyatt, 6,237
  3. Waylon, 4,881
  4. Wesley, 4,539
  5. Weston, 4,356
  6. Walker, 4,006
  7. Walter, 1,272
  8. Warren, 1,080
  9. Wade, 971
  10. Winston, 797

Top boy names starting with X:

  1. Xavier, 3,413 baby boys
  2. Xander, 1,700
  3. Xzavier, 153
  4. Xavi, 118
  5. Xavion, 111
  6. Xaiden, 101
  7. Xavien, 94
  8. Xavian, 91
  9. Xion, 85
  10. Xayden, 65

Top boy names starting with Y:

  1. Yusuf, 610 baby boys
  2. Yosef, 444
  3. Yael, 328
  4. Yehuda, 318
  5. Yousef, 297
  6. Yahir, 290
  7. Yahya, 263
  8. Yadiel, 242
  9. Yaakov, 231
  10. Yisroel, 228

Top boy names starting with Z:

  1. Zion, 2,867 baby boys
  2. Zachary, 2,112
  3. Zayden, 1,898
  4. Zayn, 1,413
  5. Zane, 1,220
  6. Zyaire, 1,029
  7. Zander, 924
  8. Zayne, 717
  9. Zaire, 654
  10. Zaiden, 567

Source: SSA

Where did the baby name Kayelani come from in 1987?

Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, Miss America 1988
Kaye Lani Rae Rafko

The rare name Kayelani debuted in the U.S. baby name data in 1987, reached peak usage in 1988, and hung around for three more years before disappearing again.

  • 1992: unlisted
  • 1991: 6 baby girls named Kayelani
  • 1990: 13 baby girls named Kayelani
  • 1989: 7 baby girls named Kayelani
  • 1988: 22 baby girls named Kayelani
  • 1987: 7 baby girls named Kayelani [debut]
  • 1986: unlisted

The similar name Kaylani also debuted in 1987.

What put these two names on the map?

Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, who was crowned Miss America 1988 in front of “a television audience estimated at 60 million” viewers in September of 1987.

(It’s hard to know how many of the babies above were named “Kaye Lani” specifically, as the SSA data omits/ignores spaces and internal capitalization.)

Kaye Lani Rae Rafko, Miss America 1988
Kaye Lani Rae Rafko

Kaye Lani Rafko, who represented the state of Michigan, was the first registered nurse to win the title.

She spent much of her tenure promoting the nursing profession and hospice care, which drew national attention. Her example would spawn official platform requirements for all contestants two years later.

For the talent portion of the competition, she donned a Barbie-pink grass skirt and performed a Tahitian dance that had “a little flavor of Hawaii thrown in,” according to the emcee.

And what motivated her to learn this particular style of dance in the first place?

Her Hawaiian-ish compound first name, which was said to be inspired by one of her mother’s friends. (Perhaps that friend had a more traditional Hawaiian name, like Kailani or Kalani. The second element of all three names, lani, is the Hawaiian word for “sky” or “heaven.”)

Kaye Lani’s three younger siblings were given the less-exotic names Kimberly, Nicholas, and Paul.

What are your thoughts on the baby name Kayelani?

P.S. A street in Kaye Lani Rafko’s hometown of Monroe is now called Kaye Lani Avenue.

Sources:

Images: Screenshots of the TV broadcast of the 61st Miss America pageant