Given name & surname
Nicolaus
“of the victorious people”
Nicolaus is a variant of Nicholas. One Greek interpretation is “of the victorious people.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Nicolaus is a variant of Nicholas. One Greek interpretation is “of the victorious people.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Nicolaus is a variant of Nicholas. An origin associated with Nicholas is Dutch.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
From Ancient Greek Νῑκόλᾱος, built from Ancient Greek νῑ́κη (“victory”) + λᾱός (“people”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1971. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Nicolaus is a variant of Nicholas. The history of Nicholas gives this family its wider story. Nicholas’s Christian associations include Saint Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop of Myra in Lycia, about whom virtually nothing factual is known.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Nicolaus through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,141
- 1,141 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1998
- 47 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −76%
- Cooling
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 9 in 2023. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 47 in 1998. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,003 as a first name in 2020; 450 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.
Nicolaus’s family of names
In Finnish usage, Nicolaus has a short form in Klaus. In German usage, Nicolaus shares a linguistic root with the Sicilian form Nicola. Nicolaus has a related form in Nicholas.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Nicolaus has relatives in 14 languages.
27 related names in 14 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 18
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 15
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Nicolaus
- Nicolaus CopernicusPolish mathematician and astronomer (1473-1543)
- Pope Nicholas IIpope990–1061
- Nicolaus OttoGerman inventor (1832–1891)
- Nicolaus ZinzendorfGerman protestant religious and social reformer, bishop of the Moravian Church (1700-1760)
- Nicolaus BruhnsDanish-German organist and composer1665–1697
- Niccolò ZucchiItlain Jesuit astronomer and physicist1586–1670
- Nicolaus Michael OppelGerman naturalist1782–1820
- Nicolaus von BelowGerman luftwaffe officer (1907-1983)
- Nicolaus von AmsdorfGerman theologian and Protestant reformer (1483-1565)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Nicolaus, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Nikkos
“of the victorious people”
>99% boys
Nickalaus
>99% boys
Nyshaun
>99% boys
Joran
“one who works the earth; a farmer” · “jehovah is exalted”
>99% boys
Niraj
“resembling a lotus”
>99% boys
Idean
>99% boys
Karolis
Karolis is a masculine given name. It is used in Lithuanian.
>99% boys
Maxamus
>99% boys