Nick
- Pronunciation
- [Nick]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Abbreviation Of Nicholas. Mythological Nike Was Greek Goddess Of Victory And Root Origin Of Nicholas.
- Origin
- English
About the Name Nick
Nick is the everyday short form of Nicholas, a name rooted in the Greek Nikolaos, "victory of the people," built on nike, the word for victory personified in the goddess Nike. Long and saintly in its full form, Nicholas has always invited a brisk, friendly nickname, and Nick is the most direct of them — easy, warm, and thoroughly approachable, the kind of name that fits as comfortably on a record sleeve as on an office door.
Bearers of the name span very different worlds. The Australian singer and songwriter Nick Cave (born 1957), who attended Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne and studied painting before turning to music, shares the name with American pop singers Nick Lachey (born 1973) and Nick Carter (born 1980), a lead vocalist of the Backstreet Boys who joined the group as a twelve-year-old. The English novelist and screenwriter Nick Hornby (born 1957), known for stories of obsessive male fandom and popular music, rounds out a notably creative roster.
In the United States, Nick first entered the Social Security top-1000 in 2000 and appeared through 2008, reaching its best rank of #768 in its debut year. It stood at #891 in 2008, after roughly 1,974 births. Recorded variants include Nicky, Nico, Nikki, Nikko, and Niko.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Nick
US Popularity History (2000–2008)
Annual US births named Nick by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2006 with 251 boys named Nick (boy rank #814 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2008, ranked #891 for boys (236 US births). That's 77 places below its 2006 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Where in the US Is Nick Most Popular?
Average boy-name rank within each state across 2016–2025 SSA records. A lower number means the name appears closer to the top of that state's boys-name rankings — a per-capita measure that isn't biased toward large states. For Nick the strongest states are Maryland, California, Washington.
Strongest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maryland | #790 | 18 |
| 2 | California | #821 | 286 |
| 3 | Washington | #855 | 21 |
| 4 | New Jersey | #963 | 30 |
| 5 | Florida | #969 | 69 |
| 6 | Illinois | #1,038 | 26 |
Weakest boys-name states
| # | State | Avg rank | Births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Illinois | #1,038 | 26 |
| 2 | Florida | #969 | 69 |
| 3 | New Jersey | #963 | 30 |
| 4 | Washington | #855 | 21 |
| 5 | California | #821 | 286 |
| 6 | Maryland | #790 | 18 |
Source: SSA state-level baby-name dataset 2016–2025. States with fewer than 3 years of data for Nick in this window are excluded. Births < 5 in a given state-year are suppressed by SSA for privacy.
Variant Forms
| Name | Meaning | Gender | Origin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicky | Abbreviation Of Nicholas. Mythological Nike Was Greek Goddess Of Victory And Root Origin Of Nicholas. | Male | English |
| Nico | Abbreviation Of Nicholas. Mythological Nike Was Greek Goddess Of Victory And Root Origin Of Nicholas. | Male | English |
| Nikki | Abbreviation Of Nicholas. Mythological Nike Was Greek Goddess Of Victory And Root Origin Of Nicholas. | Male | English |
| Nikko | Daylight."Also A Surname. | Male | Japanese |
| Niko | Abbreviation Of Nicholas. Mythological Nike Was Greek Goddess Of Victory And Root Origin Of Nicholas. | Male | English |
Famous People Named Nick
4 notable figures from history and culture who share the name Nick.
- Nick Carter — Pop Singer (1980)
- Nick Cave — Rock Singer (1957)
- Nick Hornby is known for his famous writings like ‘About a Boy’, ‘High Fidelity’, etc.
- Nick Lachey — Pop Singer (1973)
Looking for names like Nick?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Nick to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Nick against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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