How popular is the baby name Nicole 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 Nicole.

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Popularity of the baby name Nicole


Posts that mention the name Nicole

Celebrity baby name: Sunday

Australian actress Nicole Kidman and her husband, Australian-American musician Keith Urban, welcomed a baby girl earlier today in Tennessee.

The baby’s name? Sunday Rose.

Why “Sunday”?

Kidman’s father Antony, speaking from Sydney, revealed the baby’s unusual name was inspired by Sunday Reed, a well known arts patron in Victoria from the 1930s.

Reed was Australian artist Sidney Nolan‘s muse.

Kidman also has two adopted children, Connor and Isabella, from her earlier marriage to Tom Cruise.

Source: “Kidman and Urban ‘take Sunday home’.” Sydney Morning Herald 9 Jul. 2008.

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 New York City, 2006

Flag of New York
Flag of New York

According to New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the most popular baby names in the city in 2006 were Ashley and Michael.

Here are New York City’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2006:

Girl names

  1. Ashley, 518 baby girls
  2. Emily, 504
  3. Isabella, 457
  4. Sarah, 409
  5. Kayla, 406
  6. Sophia, 402
  7. Mia, 384
  8. Madison, 333
  9. Brianna, 326 (tie)
  10. Samantha, 326 (tie)
  11. Rachel, 322
  12. Olivia, 312
  13. Ava, 296
  14. Emma, 270
  15. Julia, 267
  16. Maya, 265
  17. Angelina, 264
  18. Victoria, 260
  19. Leah, 248
  20. Michelle, 244 (tie)
  21. Nicole, 244 (tie)
  22. Gabriella, 240
  23. Esther, 239
  24. Alexandra, 232 (3-way tie)
  25. Chloe, 232 (3-way tie)
  26. Elizabeth, 232 (3-way tie)
  27. Jessica, 229
  28. Sara, 228
  29. Abigail, 222
  30. Alyssa, 210
  31. Jennifer, 197
  32. Chaya, 193
  33. Natalie, 192 (tie)
  34. Sofia, 192 (tie)
  35. Destiny, 187
  36. Grace, 186
  37. Melanie, 181
  38. Amanda, 178 (3-way tie)
  39. Jasmine, 178 (3-way tie)
  40. Katherine, 178 (3-way tie)
  41. Anna, 177
  42. Arianna, 174
  43. Stephanie, 172
  44. Jada, 168
  45. Hannah, 165
  46. Alexa, 162
  47. Maria, 160
  48. Kimberly, 158
  49. Ariana, 156
  50. Gianna, 154 (tie)
  51. Zoe, 154 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Michael, 805 baby boys
  2. Daniel, 766
  3. Matthew, 748
  4. Joshua, 736
  5. Justin, 718
  6. David, 700
  7. Christopher, 675
  8. Joseph, 643
  9. Anthony, 639
  10. Jayden, 591
  11. Kevin, 540
  12. Brandon, 512
  13. Alexander, 509
  14. Ryan, 503
  15. Nicholas, 489
  16. Jonathan, 469
  17. Ethan, 450
  18. Andrew, 447
  19. Christian, 438
  20. John, 434
  21. Jacob, 423
  22. Jason, 419
  23. William, 407
  24. Angel, 405
  25. James, 402
  26. Gabriel, 352
  27. Samuel, 344
  28. Elijah, 341
  29. Benjamin, 306
  30. Dylan, 304
  31. Jack, 294
  32. Tyler, 290
  33. Aaron, 286
  34. Jordan, 284
  35. Isaiah, 283
  36. Sebastian, 279
  37. Jaden, 266
  38. Jose, 263
  39. Eric, 261
  40. Brian, 245
  41. Aidan, 237
  42. Adam, 234
  43. Sean, 233
  44. Alex, 231
  45. Noah, 230
  46. Jeremiah, 229 (tie)
  47. Xavier, 229 (tie)
  48. Bryan, 227 (tie)
  49. Steven, 227 (tie)
  50. Jeremy, 226

The top baby names within specific ethnic/racial groups were…

Top girl nameTop boy name
HispanicAshleyAngel
AsianEmilyRyan
Non-Hispanic WhiteSarahMichael
Non-Hispanic BlackKaylaJoshua

And among the names given to just 10 babies each in NYC last year were the girl names Eleni, Louise, Nailah, Ruchy, and Winni, and the boy names Aldo, Gideon, Herman, Shiloh, and Yehudah.

Source: Popular Baby Names – NYC.gov (pdf)

Image: Adapted from Flag of New York (public domain)

[Latest update: Oct. 2025]

Popular baby names in Malta, 2006

Flag of Malta
Flag of Malta

The National Statistics Office of Malta, a tiny island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, compiles baby name rankings by lumping variant spellings of names (like Matthew, Matteo and Matthias) together into a single entry.

The most popular baby names in Malta last year were:

Girl Names

  1. Maria/Mariah (73 babies)
  2. Maya (53)
  3. Amy (43)
  4. Martina & Emma (tie; 40 each)
  5. Shania (36)
  6. Ylenia & Michela/Michaela & Sarah (tie; 35 each)
  7. Elisa/Eliza (33)
  8. Julia (32)
  9. Jasmin (30)
  10. Hailey (72)
  11. Nicole (26)
  12. Francesca (25)
  13. Catherine/Katarina/Kate (23)
  14. Amber & Hannah (tie; 19 each)
  15. Emily & Kelsey (tie; 18 each)
  16. Thea (16)
  17. Kaylie & Lara (tie; 15 each)
  18. Matthea (14)
  19. Mireille & Naomi (tie; 13 each)
  20. Aaliyah (12)

Boy Names

  1. Luke/Luca (79 babies)
  2. Matthew/Matteo/Matthias (78)
  3. Jake (67)
  4. Andre & Isaac & Michael/Michele (tie; 49 each)
  5. Nicholas (46)
  6. Aidan (42)
  7. Kieran (41)
  8. Daniel (40)
  9. Kyle (37)
  10. Nathan/Nathaniel (31)
  11. Gabriel (30)
  12. Christian & Julian & Liam (tie; 27 each)
  13. Alexander (26)
  14. Zachery (23)
  15. Thomas (22)
  16. James (21)
  17. Benjamin (18)
  18. Tristan (17)
  19. Jaydon & Kurt & Leon & Sven (tie; 16 each)
  20. Denzel & John Paul (tie; 15 each)

There were 1,846 girls and 2,039 boys born in Malta in 2006. (The country only has 402,000 inhabitants total.) Based on the numbers above, 41% of those girls and 46% of those boys were given a top-20 name.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Malta (public domain)