Nicholas

Where the name comes from

• Ancient Greek
  "Victory of the people": "victory" + "people". Etymonline glosses it literally "victory-people"; Strong's gives "victorious over the people".
  Nikolaos, from nikē "victory" + laos "people"
  Came into English through Latin Nicolaus / Nicholaus and French Nicolas. The earliest dated European form in DMNES is Latin Nicolaus, Germany, 858.

Nicholas across traditions

• Christian (New Testament). Nicolas of Antioch, a convert to Judaism ("proselyte"), was one of the seven deacons of the Jerusalem church (Acts 6:5).
• Christian sainthood (Catholic and Orthodox). Saint Nicholas was probably bishop of Myra in Lycia. He is a patron saint of children and sailors and the patron saint of Russia and Greece; his Western feast is December 6. Britannica notes that no historical document attests his existence. DMNES also records popes and a patriarch of Constantinople of the name.
• Dutch and American Christmas. Dutch Sinterklaas, a Dutch variant of the name St. Nicholas, came to New Amsterdam with Dutch colonists and was adopted by English speakers as Santa Claus.
• European vernaculars. Many medieval forms are attested: Nicolas, Colin and Colas (French); Clais, Claes and Klaas (Dutch); Niklas, Nikolaus and Nickel (German); Clawes and Claus (Low German, Estonia); Nicola (Croatia); Nils and Niels (Swedish/Finnish). Polish has Mikołaj (Copernicus) and Russian has Nikolay (Nicholas II).
• English folklore. "Old Nick", a colloquial name for the devil, is attested from the 1640s. It is a later association, not part of the name's origin.
• United States (SSA). 923,780 combined US births, 1950s–2010s: Nicholas 853,078 and Nicolas 70,702. Peak decade: the 1990s, at #6 among boys (275,329; 296,548 including Nicolas). Nicholas by decade: 1950s #140, 1960s #144, 1970s #51, 1980s #19, 1990s #6, 2000s #14, 2010s #55.

Who carried it

• Saint Nicholas of Myra (4th century (about 1,700 years ago)): Probably bishop of Myra. Patron of children, sailors, Russia and Greece; the origin of Sinterklaas and Santa Claus.
• Nicolaus Copernicus (Mikołaj Kopernik) (February 19, 1473, Toruń – May 24, 1543, Frombork): Polish astronomer who set out the heliocentric, Sun-centered system.
• Nicholas II (Nikolay Aleksandrovich) (May 18, 1868 (New Style) – July 17, 1918): Last emperor of Russia (1894–1917).

Forms in other languages

Nicolas, Nicolaus, Nikolaos, Nikolaus, Niklas, Klaas, Claus, Mikołaj, Nikolay, Nicola, Nils, Nick

Nicholas in letter-number systems

Hebrew, Greek and other traditions gave every letter a number, and read meaning into the totals. These are the counts, computed; the readings are inside the Innerverse.