Given name · Bulgarian · Russian
Николай
“victory of the people”
Николай (Nikoláj) is a masculine given name from Ancient Greek. It is used in Russian.
Bulgarian and RussianWritten in Cyrillic script. In English: Nicholas.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Николай goes back to Ancient Greek Νικόλαος, meaning “victory of the people.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
In Russian usage, Николай developed from Νικόλαος.
Николай’s family of names
In Russian usage, Николай has a diminutive in Коля. In Russian usage, Николай developed from the Ancient Greek form Νικόλαος. In Bulgarian usage, Николай has a conventional equivalent in the English form Nicholas.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Николай has relatives in 19 languages. Lines run from its Ancient Greek roots to each of them.
Ancient Greekwhere Николай comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 2
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 50
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- NicholasEnglish, Danish
- NicolasPortuguese, English
- NicoleFrench
- Nikolasequivalent
- Nikolaequivalent
- Nikolaosequivalent
- NicolaItalian
- NikolausGerman
Show 42 moreShow fewer
- NilsSwedish
- Nielsequivalent
- Nikolayequivalent
- Nikosequivalent
- NiklasSwedish
- Nikolozequivalent
- Mykolaequivalent
- Nicolaasequivalent
- NicolauPortuguese
- Nicolinoequivalent
- NicolaeRomanian
- NicolausLatin
- NikolajDanish
- Nikolaoequivalent
- ნიკოლოზequivalent
- Міколаequivalent
- Nicolòequivalent
- Mikalaiequivalent
- 니콜라이Korean
- ΜικόλαGreek
- Νικόλαοςroot · Greek, Ancient Greek
- NícolasPortuguese
- NicolásSpanish
- MikulášCzech
- Nikolajsequivalent
- Nikulásequivalent
- Mikolaequivalent
- Mikławšequivalent
- Nikolajusequivalent
- Nikolazequivalent
- Νίκοςequivalent
- Nicolaesequivalent
- Miklavžequivalent
- Niccolòequivalent
- Miklósequivalent
- Мікалайequivalent
- Nickelequivalent
- Никола́йhas masculine form
- NigulEstonian
- МикъалаOssetian
- MikołajPolish
- NicolayEnglish
See also 6
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Николай
- Nicholas II14th and last Emperor of Russia (1894–1917)1868–1918
- Nicholas I of RussiaThe 11th Emperor of Russia, 1825–1855 (lived 1796-1855)
- Nikolai LobachevskyRussian mathematician (1792–1856)
- Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovRussian composer (1844–1908)
- Nikolay NekrasovRussian poet, writer, critic, editor and publisher (1821–1878)
- Nikolay KaramzinRussian writer, poet, critic1766–1826
- Nikolai NoskovSoviet and Russian singer and song writerborn 1956
- Nikolai BukharinRussian revolutionary and politician (1888–1938)
- Nikolay ChernyshevskyRussian writer and nihilist philosopher (1828–1889)
Characters named Николай: Nikolai Rostov (War and Peace).
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
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