Meaning & origin
How it developed
In English usage, Nicholson as a surname has a “son of” formation linked to Nicholas.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1979. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Nicholson through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 97
- 97 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1994
- 11 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 2018. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 11 in 1994. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 299 as a first name in 2020; 55,506 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Nicholson’s family of names
In English usage, Nicholson as a surname has a “son of” formation linked to Nicholas. In English usage, Nicholson as a surname has a conventional equivalent in the Danish form NIELSEN. In English usage, Nicholson as a surname shares an earlier linguistic root with NIELSEN.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Nicholson has relatives in 11 languages.
14 related names in 11 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 14
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Nicholson
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Nicholson, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.