# Nikolaj (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/nikolaj/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | not recorded |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 154 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 154 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 27, 1996 to 2025 |

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 9 | 8,808 |
| 2009 | 5 | 13,909 |
| 2010 | 6 | 11,780 |
| 2012 | 6 | 11,833 |
| 2013 | 5 | 13,499 |
| 2014 | 6 | 11,726 |
| 2015 | 8 | 9,325 |
| 2016 | 16 | 5,712 |
| 2017 | 10 | 7,976 |
| 2018 | 14 | 6,238 |
| 2019 | 19 | 5,101 |
| 2020 | 11 | 7,366 |
| 2021 | 9 | 8,641 |
| 2022 | 9 | 8,790 |
| 2024 | 8 | 9,613 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2001 | 3 | 3,134 |
| 2004 | 3 | 3,651 |
| 2011 | 3 | 4,647 |
| 2013 | 3 | 4,685 |
| 2019 | 5 | 3,411 |
| 2020 | 7 | 2,682 |
| 2025 | 3 | 5,137 |

## People named Nikolaj

- Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Danish actor (born 1970)
- Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig, Danish Lutheran pastor, theologian, hymn-writer and educator (1783-1872)
- Nikolaj Ehlers, Danish ice hockey player
- Nikolaj Pešalov, Bulgarian weightlifter
- Nikolaj Arcel, Danish film director and screenwriter
- Nikolaj Koppel, Danish musician and host
- Nikolaj Jacobsen, Danish handball player
- Nikolaj Markussen, Danish handball player
- Nikolaj Sørensen, Danish-Canadian ice dancer
- Nikolaj Øris, Danish handball player
- Nikolaj Villumsen, Danish politician
- Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Danish violinist and conductor

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.