The story in the numbers

593,691 girls have been named Nicole in the United States since 1937, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1985, with 22,967 births — 1.3% of all girls recorded that year.

The name has all but left use: 961 births in 2024, against 22,967 at the peak.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 1986, and the 1980s alone account for 35%. It has spent 79 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 40 of them in the top 100 and 13 in the top 10.

It is overwhelmingly a girl’s name: 1,965 boys have also been given it, 0.33% of the total.

Rank among girls, year by year

By decade

Decade

girls named Nicole

616

1,315

18,565

144,670

210,498

136,100

54,580

22,305

5,014

In 1985, its biggest year

Nicole was the 7th most given girl’s name that year. The top five girls’ names of 1985 were Jessica, Ashley, Jennifer, Amanda and Sarah. See all of 1985.

Names that rose and fell with Nicole

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

Other spellings in the data

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.