Nicole
French, from Greek via Latin: feminine of Nicholas. Nicholas is from Greek Nikolaos, "victory-people".
Pronounced nih-KOHL
Where the name comes from
- French, from Greek via Latinfeminine of Nicholas. Nicholas is from Greek Nikolaos, "victory-people".French Nicole, feminine of Nicolas; Greek Nikolaos, from nikē "victory" + laos "people"Attested origin. DMNES (2023): "Nicole f. Fem. of Nicholas"; earliest "1296 Nichole" (Paris). etymonline (Nicholas): from Greek Nikolaos, literally "victory-people"; "the fem. form Nicola, corresponding to French Nicole". See the Nicholas entry for the full root. Popular glosses such as "victorious" simplify "victory-people" and should not replace it.
Nicole across traditions
- Medieval French and European. DMNES records Nicole and its pet forms in France from 1296 (Nichole, Nicole, Colète, later Colette and Colasse), in England from the 1300s (Coleta, Necolaa, Nichola), in Italy (Niccolosa 1367, Nicola 1527), in Spain (Nicolasa 1576), in the Low Countries (Colijntge 1582; Walloon Nicolle and Colette 1599) and in Switzerland.
- Medieval French masculine use. In medieval French, Nicole could also be a man's name. The scholar-bishop Nicholas Oresme's "name is given in French as Nicole Oresme" (MacTutor).
- United States (SSA). 632,473 births in the SSA decade top-200 tables, 1950s–2010s, including the spelling Nichole (45,754). Peak decade: the 1980s, at #8 for girls (237,729 births including Nichole). Top 100 from the 1970s through the 2000s. Sources: ssa.gov/oact/babynames/decades/names1950s.html through names2010s.html.
Who carried it
- Nicole Oresme (about 1323–1382): French natural philosopher and bishop of Lisieux, a man who bore the French form Nicole (MacTutor, St Andrews).
Forms in other languages
Nichole, Nicolle, Colette, Nicola, Nicolasa
Nicole 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.
Not Nicole? Look up your own name
The Innerverse reads any name: its language of origin, its roots, who carried it, and how nine letter-number traditions count it.
Free guide: Names and Their Origins
Every name in our library, grouped by the language it came from, with its first meaning and a famous bearer. Plus a family-names worksheet to fill in with the people at your table. Leave an email and it is yours.
You also get the Civilizational Science dispatch, free, and can leave it with one click.