Niki

Where Niki comes from

The dictionaries list Niki as a given name — a unisex given name — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1930
    Niki de Saint Phalle born
    plastician, painter and sculptor
  2. 1932
    First appearance
    #3,568 among girls, 7 babies — the first year at least five got the name.
  3. 1972
    Peak, #626
    248 babies named Niki — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1985
    Niki Zimling born
    Danish footballer
  5. 1989
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #1,339.
In the dictionary
  • A unisex given name
  • A female given name.
  • A transliteration of the Greek female given name Νίκη (Níki).
  • A diminutive of the female given names Nicole, Nichole, Nicola, and Nichola
  • A male given name.
  • A diminutive of the male given name Nicholas
Namesakes
  • Niki de Saint Phalle · plastician, painter and sculptor, 1930–2002
  • Niki Zimling · Danish footballer, born 1985
  • Niki Terpstra · Dutch cyclist, born 1984
  • Niki Karimi · Iranian film director and actress, born 1971
  • Niki Caro · New Zealand film director, film producer and screenwriter, born 1967

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.