Niko
Top 1000
About Niko
Popular in Croatia, Spain, New Zealand, and Slovenia, Niko has also been rising up the US popularity charts for boys since the late 2000s. Fresher than Nicholas, spikier than Nico, it currently ranks just outside the US Top 300.
Given to around 1000 boys each year, Niko lags slightly behind brother Nico, which was given to nearly 1700 babies in a recent year. When you combine these numbers, however, Niko begins to sound like a Top 150 name, comparable in popularity to Nathaniel, Legend, Malachi, and Leon.
Could Nico and Niko become the new Nicholas in the coming years? Numbers wise, they're not too far behind and certainly have a more contemporary feel, and with the slang "neek" falling out of fashion, there could be more Nikos running round in the future.
Pronounced NEE-koh.
As of October 2026, Niko ranked #325 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #287 in 2022, Nameberry popularity #341.
Editor's take: The name Niko is a boy's name of Greek, Finnish, Slovene origin meaning "victory of the people".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #618 | 431 | 224.4 |
| 2015 | #629 | 425 | 221.7 |
| 2016 | #612 | 439 | 231.3 |
| 2017 | #549 | 507 | 273.9 |
| 2018 | #518 | 549 | 302.3 |
| 2019 | #420 | 742 | 413.6 |
| 2020 | #358 | 870 | 504 |
| 2021 | #291 | 1,171 | 669.3 |
| 2022 | #287 | 1,191 | 682.1 |
| 2023 | #320 | 1,037 | 606.2 |
| 2024 | #343 | 1,001 | 581 |
| 2025 | #325 | 1,046 | 612.4 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Niko.
- Kane
- Aceson
- Luka
- Malakai
- Zion
- Remi
- Keanu
- Cain
- Tirian
- Ari
- Malik
- Thiago
- Kian
- Kingsley
- Raiden
- Anakin
- Kilian
- Aryan
- Emery
- Arie
Niko on lists
Famous Nikos
- Niko Stelios Koutouvides
American football player
- Niko Kovač
Croatian footballer
- Niko Kranjčar
Croatian footballer
- Niko Etxart
Basque singer,songwriter
- Niko McKnight (b. 1993)
son of singer Brian McKnight
- Alexander Kingdom Nik
o "Anno" Birkin, English poet and musician
- Nik
o, nickname of Nicholas "Nico" Llewelyn Davies, inspiration for J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan"
Niko in pop culture
- Niko Bellic
character in video game "Grand Theft Auto IV"
- Niko Jovic
character in Nancy Drew game, "The Deadly Device"
- Niko
reindeer in the movie "The Flight Before Christmas"
- Niko
character in 1994 film "The Mask"
- Niklaren "Niko" Goldeye
character in Tamora Pierce's The Circle Opens series
- Niko
character on animated television series The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers
- Niko
a pirate in the The Legend of Zelda video games
- Niko
a character in the 1988 film "Above the Law"