# Nicholls (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/nicholls/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname transferred from the given name.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 5,722 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,010 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 53,958 people |
| Change since 2000 | +7.1% (5,344 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

From a medieval vernacular form of the given name Nicholas + the patronymic suffix -s.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Nicholls in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 84% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 8.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.6% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.3% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Nicholls in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

## People named Nicholls

- Paul Nicholls, British actor
- Craig Nicholls, Australian rock musician
- Mikey Nicholls, Australian professional wrestler
- Peter Nicholls, Australian literary scholar and critic (1939–2018)
- Stan Nicholls, British author and journalist
- Frankie Knuckles, American DJ and record producer (1955–2014)

## Similar surnames

Nichols, Nicholas, Nicholes, Nicholson, Nicolas, Nickels, Nickles, Nickelson, Nicolosi, Nicklas, Nuckolls, Nickols.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.