Nicholas

Nicholas meaning

Nicholas is an international and Christian boy's name of Greek origin.

Victorious over the people; from nikos, "victory", and laos, "people"

Nicholas comes from Greek Nikolaos, made of nikē or nikos, 'victory', and laos, 'people'; Strong's glosses it 'victorious over the people'. In the Acts of the Apostles Nicolas of Antioch is one of the seven deacons chosen by the early church. The name honours St Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop of Myra in Asia Minor known for secret gift-giving, whose legend grew into Santa Claus. It was later borne by Russian tsars and by many saints and popes. Baby-name lists give 'victory of the people', which matches. It is said NIK-uh-lus and is often shortened to Nick.

Source: Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (1890), Greek Dictionary of the New Testament, G3532 · entry Nikolaos · See the entry · checked 25 Oct 2026

References: Strong's G3532, Nikolaos (with Thayer's entry) · Wikipedia, Saint Nicholas

Famous namesakes

• St Nicholas of Myra, the saint behind Santa Claus
• Nicolaus Copernicus, Polish astronomer

Popularity abroad

• #112 United States, boys 2025 (up 5 from 117 in 2024)
  US Social Security Administration
• #214 England and Wales, boys 2025
  Office for National Statistics

Official birth registrations. India publishes no national name statistics.

Spellings

Nicholas · Nicolas · Nikolas

Related names

Also meaning victory

More names of Greek origin

Browse more like this