A LITTLE UNCOMMON. ENTIRELY YOURS.
Meaning, origin and pronunciation, with published usage by place and year.
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Victory and people, through the Nicholas name family
The Danish entry traces Niels through Latin Nicolaus to Greek Nikolaos. The Nicholas entry explicitly gives victory and people as its Greek elements; this does not imply a victorious bearer.
Danish medieval contraction of Latin Nicolaus, ultimately Greek
The exact Danish personal-name etymology establishes the medieval contraction; the Dutch section documents borrowing from a Scandinavian language. Usage and historical derivation remain separate.
Not yet published for this spelling.
Counts apply only to the exact spelling, place, year and recorded usage shown. Places are separate; these figures are never added into a worldwide total. Missing or suppressed records never mean zero.
| Place | Year | Recorded usage | Published births | Rank | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Canada | 2016 | Boys | 6 | 2428 | 2025 figures are preliminary. Quebec counts below five are randomly imputed by the publisher before national aggregation. Accents are removed in the source; this profile was matched only where the catalog spelling was unambiguous. Unpublished values are unknown, not zero. Rank basis: source published. |
| France | 2025 | Boys | 50 (rounded to 5) | 785 | Counts are rounded to the nearest multiple of five. Ranks use unrounded publisher counts with randomly ordered ties; equally rounded counts can have different ranks. National coverage excludes Mayotte before 2012. Missing years are unavailable, not zero. Automated direction labels are withheld for this rounded-count series. Rank basis: source published. |
| England & Wales | 2016 | Boys | 4 | 4023 | Historical source: not all years independently cross-checked. Rank basis: source published. |
| United States | 2025 | Boys | 15 | 5861 | Source-reported counts; unpublished names are not zero. Rank basis: calculated from published counts. |
Canada, Ireland and France coverage includes confidently matched existing profiles only; unmatched spellings are awaiting review. French counts are rounded to five.
Open an entry for its source, credit, licence and full qualifications. Different name traditions remain separate.
Checked against cited source
The language section explicitly records given-name use. This is distinct from linguistic root, nationality or ancestry. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted and condensed by Rare Baby Names; CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). No source audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The language section explicitly records given-name use. This is distinct from linguistic root, nationality or ancestry. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted and condensed by Rare Baby Names; CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). No source audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The exact Faroese section records a male given name; this does not establish a Faroese or English reading. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Niels&oldid=85764200. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized exact personal-name sections, separating language use, ancestry, related names and pronunciation. No audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The exact German section records a male given name borrowed from Danish; language use is distinct from ultimate Greek ancestry. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Niels&oldid=85764200. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized exact personal-name sections, separating language use, ancestry, related names and pronunciation. No audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The Danish entry traces Niels through Latin Nicolaus to Greek Nikolaos. The Nicholas entry explicitly gives victory and people as its Greek elements; this does not imply a victorious bearer. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted and condensed by Rare Baby Names; CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). No source audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
Recorded Dutch reading of the exact given-name entry. It is not a Danish or English pronunciation. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted and condensed by Rare Baby Names; CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). No source audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The exact Danish personal-name etymology establishes the medieval contraction; the Dutch section documents borrowing from a Scandinavian language. Usage and historical derivation remain separate. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted and condensed by Rare Baby Names; CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). No source audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The Danish entry explicitly identifies Niels as cognate with English Nicholas. This is a cross-language relationship, not a nickname or merged statistical spelling. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted and condensed by Rare Baby Names; CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). No source audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
Explicit related name in the German personal-name section, not asserted as a nickname or merged statistical spelling. Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Niels&oldid=85764200. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized exact personal-name sections, separating language use, ancestry, related names and pronunciation. No audio reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
Checked against cited source
The Danish personal-name section explicitly lists Nils and Niels as variant forms, and the German section also lists Niels as an alternative to Nils. This is a documented spelling relationship within those language contexts, not a pronunciation transfer from Scandinavian or German usage to English. Credit: Wiktionary contributors, exact Nils personal-name entry at the cited revision. Source: https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=Nils&oldid=90665108. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Adaptation: Rare Baby Names summarized the explicitly listed spelling alternatives, preserving language and recorded-usage scope. Spellings retain separate popularity series, identities and preferred pronunciations. No source audio, images or quotations reused.
Credit: Wiktionary contributors. Adapted by Rare Baby Names: wording shortened and name contexts separated. Recorded pronunciations are shown as published.
This adapted text is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
CC BY-SA 4.0
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View statistics source (link unavailable)
Attribution: Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence
License: Open Government Licence v3.0
Attribution: U.S. Social Security Administration
Credit: Statistics Canada, Table 17-10-0147-01, 1991–2025, released 23 September 2026.
License: Statistics Canada Open Licence
Adaptation: Adapted from Statistics Canada, First names at birth by sex at birth, selected indicators, Table 17-10-0147-01, reference years 1991–2025. This does not constitute an endorsement by Statistics Canada of this product.
Credit: Source : Insee, Fichier des prénoms, updated 16 July 2026.
License: Open Licence 2.0 (Etalab)
Adaptation: Adapted by Rare Baby Names: column names and sex codes mapped and unique case-only spellings matched to existing profiles. Published rounded counts and ranks retained.
