Name: Nicholas
Gender: Male
Pronunciation: NI-ko-las (English) and nee-ko-LA (French)

Origin and History: The name Nicholas is from the Greek name Nikolaos. Nikolaos means: means "Victory of the people."

In the Bible, Nicolas was a disciple of the church, but the popularity of the name more than likely stems down from a 4th century Bishop and Saint of Myra in Lycia and Antolia. Modern day Antalya Province, Turkey. Saint Nicholas was his name. He was also known as Saint Nikolas the Wonderworker. A legend says that he save the daughters of a poor man from lives of prostitution.

Another story tells of him secretly giving out gifts. Because of this, he is now more commonly known as Old Saint Nick or Santa Clause. The name Santa Clause comes from the Dutch Sinterklaas or Sint-Nicolaas. Santa Clause lives in the North Pole, has reindeer and still gives out gifts to all the good boys and girls on Christmas Eve.

Saint Nicholas is a patron of sailors, merchants, archers, children, and students of Amsterdam (Netherlands), Barranquilla (Colombia), Bari (Italy), Beit Jala in the West Bank of Palestine and Russia. Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Russia, the Republic of Macedonia, Slovakia, Serbia, and Montenegro.

Popularity: The popularity for the name Nicholas has steadily increased over the years with very few minor drops.

Famous people:
*Saint Nicholas.
*Nicholas I. Russian Emperor.
*Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich). The last Russian Emperor. Ruled 1894-1917.
*Robert Carter Nicholas. Colonial official from VA. His father emigrated from Lancashire,
England to Williamsburg, VA around 1700.
*Nicholas Cage. Actor.
*Nicholas Howard Barker. Extreme metal drummer. Played in British metal band, Cradle of
Faith. Norwegian Symphonic black metal band, Dimmu Borgir. Also played with Brujeria,
Old Man's Child, and Lock Up.
*Nicholas Burns. Politics. From Indiana
*Nicholas Sarkozy. Politics. From Illinois
*Nicholas Brenner. Sports. From France.
*Nicholas Lawrence. Sports. From England.
*Nicholas Saunders. Actor. From Russia. His British name was Nikita Soussanin.
*Nickolas Hewetson. Actor.
*Nicholas Copernicus. Artist/Writer.
*Nicholas Negroponte. Founder of One Laptop per Child non-profit association.

Famous people who named their kids Nicholas:
*Mel Brooks
*Phil Collins
*Hulk Hogan
*Vanna White

*Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University. Durham, NC
*Nicholas Restaurant Red Bank Restaurants NJ
*Nicholas Company, Inc. An independently owned investment management firm, founded in 1967.
*Nicholas Homes. Arizona Homes for the Way You Live.

Name variants.
*Nicolas. French
*Nicholas. English
*Nikolas. English, Greek
*Nicola. Italian
*Nicolae. Romanian
*Nicolao. Spanish, Italian
*Nicolau. Portuguese
*Nichol. Scottish
*Nicolai. Russian
*Nicolaes. Dutch
*Nichio. Esperanto
*Niklaus. German
*Nickolaus. German
*Nikolaas. Dutch

http://www.babynames.com
http://www.behindthename.com/n ame/nicholas
http://www.babynamesgarden.com /name_boy.aspx?id=3431
http://baby-names.familyeducat ion.com/name-meaning/nicholas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N icholas_Barker
http://www.namepedia.org/en/fi rstname/Nicholas/
http://us.imdb.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S aint_Nicholas
http://www2.sptimes.com/Treasu res/TC.2.3.19.html
http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/f acilities/
http://search.live.com/results .aspx?q=Nicholas&form=QBRE

Learn more about this author, Sas Freeman.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Behind the name: Nicholas?
We want to hear your view. Write now!