Boy

Nicolai

nih-koh-LY

Rare & Uncommon ↑ Rising

✦ Meaning

“Slavic variant of Nicholas, from Greek meaning 'victory of the people.' Popular in Russian and Scandinavian cultures with aristocratic and romantic overtones.”

Popularity Over Time

Nicolai US popularity rank over timeRank 6697 in 1982 to rank 1881 in 2015. Lower rank numbers are more popular.#1881#4289#66971962198020002024

Nicolai is not currently in the US top 1000.

Origin

GreekSlavic

Syllables

3

Nicknames

NicoNickyLai

Style

RomanticGrandClassicElegantTimeless

Famous Bearers

  • Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov (composer)
  • Nicolai Valuev (boxer)

Collections

Works Everywhere → Beautiful But Not Top 100 → Vintage Revival →

Similar Names

Dmitri

Greek Rare & Uncommon

Alexei

Greek Rare & Uncommon

Mikhail

Hebrew Rare & Uncommon

Aleksandr

Greek Rare & Uncommon

Boris

Russian Rare & Uncommon

Sibling Name Ideas

Natasha

Latin Beautiful But Not Top 100

Katya

Greek Rare & Uncommon

Elena

Greek Top 50

Svetlana

Russian Rare & Uncommon

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Cross-Cultural Notes

Strong in Russian, Scandinavian, and Eastern European contexts

People Also Ask

Slavic variant of Nicholas, from Greek meaning 'victory of the people.' Popular in Russian and Scandinavian cultures with aristocratic and romantic overtones.

Nicolai is not currently in the US top 1000, making it a genuinely rare choice. It's trending up as more parents discover it.

Popular nicknames for Nicolai include Nico, Nicky, Lai.

Names that pair beautifully with Nicolai include Natasha, Katya, Elena, Svetlana.