Nikolov
surname · Latin script
Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
Nikolov is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Bulgaria than in any other country, where it is the 8th most common surname. Recorded meaning: Borrowed from Bulgarian Николов (Nikolov).
- DEGermany≈1 in 78K(inferred from the name graph)
- USUnited States1 in 367K
- BGBulgaria1 in 129as Николов
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Nikolov itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- Bulgaria (measured from records)
- 2 (measured from records)
- Sources
- 194 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 7.8K (inferred from the name graph)
54,074 named Николов, 2022
recorded for this name
Highest-authority source
Serbia, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Spellings & scripts(measured from records)
One other spelling is counted as the same name:
Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
Borrowed from Bulgarian Николов (Nikolov).
Sources 1
Attested across 6 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Nikolov 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 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BG Bulgaria | #8 | 54,074as Николов | 1 in 129 | 58K | Nikolov | 166 |
| DE Germany | — | ≈1,000 est. | ≈1 in 78K | — | Nikolov | 99 |
| ES Spain | — | 949 | 1 in 53K | 949 | Nikolov | 54 |
| US United States | — | 906 | 1 in 367K | 960 | Nikolov | 194 |
| RS Serbia | #699 | ≈890 est. | ≈1 in 7.8K | listed | Nikolov | 19 |
| CH Switzerland | — | 386 | 1 in 22K | 386 | Nikolov | 12 |
| MK North Macedonia | #17 | 221as Николов | 1 in 9.6K | 221 | Nikolov | 28 |
| SI Slovenia | — | 164 | 1 in 13K | 164 | — | 5 |
54,074 people counted by NSI — most common surnames (annual press release), 2022, counting the spelling николов. 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: NSI — most common surnames (annual press release); NSI — most common surnames; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020; INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos); INE — Apellidos más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal); BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames); State Statistical Office — living population names; stat.si Imena rojstva — full name register (per-token frequency + rank). 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).
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Jordan Ivanovb. 1872BGnot in their usual nameBulgarian historian
- Andrey Nikolovb. 1878BGsculptor (1878-1959)
- Andon Nikolovb. 1951BGBulgarian weightlifter
- Dimitar Nikolovb. 1967BGBulgarian economist and politician
- Oka Nikolovb. 1974MKNorthmacedonian footballer
- Vladimir Nikolovb. 1977BGBulgarian volleyball player
- Nikolay Nikolovb. 1986BGBulgarian volleyball player
- Emiliya Nikolovab. 1991BGnot in their usual nameBulgarian volleyball player
- Boban Nikolovb. 1994MKMacedonian footballer
- Daniel Nikolovb. 1998BGbadminton player
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 31 sources across 18 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BG Bulgaria | NSI — most common surnames | 2018 | 58K | #5 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020 | 2020 | 960 | #26,730 |
| ES Spain | INE — Apellidos más frecuentes (Padrón Municipal) | — | 949 | #4,626 |
| ES Spain | INE — Padrón per-token widgets (current living counts, given + apellidos) | — | 949 | #4,619 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010 | 2010 | 906 | #26,833 |
| US United States | Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000 | 2000 | 419 | #47,575 |
| CH Switzerland | BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames) | 2024 | 386 | #3,410 |
| SI Slovenia | stat.si Imena rojstva — full name register (per-token frequency + rank) | — | 164 | #2,695 |
| US United States | wru Name Dictionary — US surnames, Census 2010 subset (Khanna et al.) | — | — | — |
Reference works 3
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- 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 Nikolov mean, and where does it come from?
- Borrowed from Bulgarian Николов (Nikolov). Recorded by Wiktionary.
- In which country does Nikolov have the most bearers?
- In Bulgaria, the national register counted about 54 thousand people named Николов, more than in any other country we hold.
- How common is the name Nikolov?
- In Spain, the national register counted 949 people named Nikolov, about 1 in 53 thousand residents.
- How common is Nikolov compared with other names?
- In Bulgaria, Nikolov is the 8th most common surname of 67,606 surnames recorded there.
What do you want to know about Nikolov?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/nikolovThe same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. Rate-limited for casual use; a free API key gives 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, “Nikolov” — the 8th most common surname in Bulgaria. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.