Humanverse

Niki vs Nikoli

American parents have registered 7,277 Nikis since 1880, against 663 Nikolis. Niki is still ahead, with 13 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Niki against Nikoli, 1880 to 2025 0 80 160 240 320 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Niki Nikoli

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 89 years in which either name was published, Niki for 78 years and Nikoli for 11 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Niki Nikoli
Total US births 7,277663
Most in one year 26140
Babies in 2025 136
Estimated living today 6,700650
Median age today 4514
Peak year 19722010
Best rank 626th girls2,914th boys
Rank in 2025 7,885th10,695th
First recorded 19321989
Girls / boys 7,048 / 2290 / 663

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Nikis alive today are over 45; half the Nikolis are over 14. That is 31 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Niki and Nikoli.