Nicu
given name · Latin script
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
Nicu is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Romania than in any other country. In Romanian, recorded as a diminutive of the male given name Nicolae, equivalent to English Nick.
- RORomania≈1 in 1.2K(inferred from the name graph)
- ITItaly≈1 in 20K
- MDMoldova1 in 2.7K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Romania (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 101 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 1.2K (inferred from the name graph)
≈18,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Romania, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
a diminutive of the male given name Nicolae, equivalent to English Nick
Sources 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.
How Nicu is read(measured from records)
Nicu is one spelling over 5 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.
- Romanian53%
- French13%
No dictionary in our sources glosses Nicu in French.
- English7.4%
Initialism of neonatal intensive care unit.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
- German6.6%
No dictionary in our sources glosses Nicu in German.
- Spanish5.4%
No dictionary in our sources glosses Nicu in Spanish.
The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Nicu counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RO Romania | #220 | ≈18,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.2K | — | Nicu | 101 |
| IT Italy | — | ≈3,200 est. | ≈1 in 20K | 1 | Nicu | 37 |
| MD Moldova | #249 | 1,260 | 1 in 2.7K | 1.3K | Nicu | 41 |
| DE Germany | — | ≈450 est. | ≈1 in 179K | — | Nicu | 54 |
| FR France | — | ≈440 est. | ≈1 in 156K | — | Nicu | 2 |
| BE Belgium | — | ≈240 est. | ≈1 in 49K | 1 | Nicu | 13 |
| AT Austria | — | ≈200 est. | ≈1 in 45K | — | Nicu | 21 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: ISTAT — Contanomi newborn per-name series (1999–2024, JSONP backend); e-services.md — living population register; Familienaam.be — Belgian family-name frequency (population register). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Nicu is also recorded in one other lexicon, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In scn, small, little
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Nicu Stanb. 1931RORomanian cinematographer
- Nicu Constantinb. 1938RORomanian actor (1938–2009)
- Nicu Vladimirb. 1950RORomanian folk singer
- Nicu Gingăb. 1953ROOlympic wrestler
- Nicu Alifantisb. 1954RORomanian musician, singer and composer
- Nicu Vladb. 1963RORomanian weightlifter
- Nicu Mihocb. 1965RORomanian actor
- Nicu Palerub. 1973RORomanian musician
- Nicu Popescub. 1981MDMoldovan politician, former Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Nicu Branzeaactor
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 22 sources across 13 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BE Belgium | Familienaam.be — Belgian family-name frequency (population register) | 2008 | 1 | #159,486 |
Reference works 3
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikipedia surname tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- What does the name Nicu mean, and where does it come from?
- a diminutive of the male given name Nicolae, equivalent to English Nick Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- Is Nicu a male or female name?
- Nicu is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- What are other forms of the name Nicu?
- In the etymology graph, Nicolas, Nicholas and Kay are forms of the same name in other languages; it is recorded as a short form of Nicolae and Neculai.
- In which country does Nicu have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 18 thousand people named Nicu in Romania, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled nicu.
- How common is the name Nicu?
- In Moldova, the national register counted 1,260 people named Nicu, about 1 in 2.7 thousand residents.
- How common is Nicu compared with other names?
- In Romania, Nicu is the 220th most common given name of 34,167 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Nicu?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/nicuThe same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), and bulk access is licensed separately.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Nicu” — the 220th most common given name in Romania. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.