How common is the name Nicole?

544,076 people in the United States have the first name Nicole, about 1 in 555. It ranks #78 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

NICOLE

#78

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
544,076
About
1 in 555
This common or more
26.7%
Who bears it

Of the 544,076 people named Nicole, 70% reported their origin as White, 13.3% as Hispanic or Latino and 9.7% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Nicole peaked in 1985, when 23,043 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19372025
Peak year
1985
Births that year
23,043
In 2025*
803 ▼97%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 596,465 babies have been given the name since 1937. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Nicole by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1980s, when it ranked #28. The largest share of babies named Nicole, 49.9%, were born between 1981 and 1996, as millennials.

1930s#8,00728
1940s#1,828616
1950s#1,4521,314
1960s#34918,643
1970s#34145,304
1980s#28211,316
1990s#46136,383
2000s#13254,714
2010s#33522,324
2020s#6795,823
Silent Generation 1928–450.1%
Baby boom 1946–640.7%
Generation X 1965–8030.4%
Millennials 1981–9649.9%
Generation Z 1997–1215.6%
2013 and later3.4%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Nicole is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Nicole has been most common in New Jersey (1.7×), New Hampshire (1.6×), and Nevada (1.6×), and least common in Mississippi (0.22×).

593,624 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Nicole

#76 Margaret · 549,715#77 Kathleen · 547,321#79 Tyler · 541,525#80 Brenda · 521,400

Spelled almost the same

8 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Nicole, most common first.

#841 Nichole · 55,220#2,111 Nicola · 12,714#3,406 Nikole · 6,169#3,470 Nicolle · 5,984#5,938 Nicol · 2,775#7,269 Nickole · 2,115#9,286 Nicolo · 1,507#10,260 Nicolae · 1,309

Also a last name

As a last name, Nicole ranks #27,242 of 156,621, with 938 people. See Nicole as a last name

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