Nikita vs Nikoli
American parents have registered 13,668 Nikitas since 1880, against 663 Nikolis. Nikita is still ahead, with 56 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Nikita 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
Nikita has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1949 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.
The closest they came was 2019, when Nikita had 110 and Nikoli had 28.
Side by side
| Nikita | Nikoli | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 13,668 | 663 |
| Most in one year | 1,066 | 40 |
| Babies in 2025 | 56 | 6 |
| Estimated living today | 13,000 | 650 |
| Median age today | 32 | 14 |
| Peak year | 1986 | 2010 |
| Best rank | 250th girls | 2,914th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 4,460th | 10,695th |
| First recorded | 1949 | 1989 |
| Girls / boys | 10,778 / 2,890 | 0 / 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 Nikitas alive today are over 32; half the Nikolis are over 14. That is 18 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: Nikita and Nikoli.