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Nikola

Name list

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
3 min read
Source updated August 12, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Nikola (Cyrillic: Никола) is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek Nikolaos (Νικόλαος) and it means "the winner of the people". It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia), while in West Slavic countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia) it is primarily found as a feminine given name. There is a wide variety of male diminutives of the name, examples including: Niko, Nikolica, Nidžo, Nikolče, Nikša, Nikica, Nikulitsa, Nino, Kole, Kolja, Kolyo, and Kolyu.

The spelling with a K, Nikola, usually indicates Slavic origin, while Nicola usually indicates Italian origin.

01Statistics

  • Serbia: male name. 5th most popular in 2011, 1st in 2001, 1st in 1991, 5th in 1981, 9th pre-1940.
  • Croatia: male name. 32,304 (2011), 26,986 (2021)
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina: male name.
  • Bulgaria: male name.
  • North Macedonia: male name.
  • Czech Republic: 22,567 females and 740 males (2002).
  • Poland: female name.
  • Slovakia: female name.
  • Slovenia: male name. 2003 males and female name (form of name).

02People with the name

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Nikola”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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Related topics

Nicola (name)

Nicola or Nichola is a Latinised version of the Greek personal name Nikolaos, derived from the nikē meaning "victory", and laos meaning "people", therefore implying the meaning "victory of the people". Nicola is both a male and female name, depending on cultural norms.

Nikolai

Nikolai or Nikolay is an East Slavic variant of the masculine name Nicholas.

Nikolić

Nikolić, meaning "son of Nikola", is a common South Slavic surname and is found in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Austria and Serbia. Nikolić is the third most frequent surname in Serbia, and is also common in Croatia, with 6,353 carriers (2011 census).