| Milan | Nikolai | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Dear, loving | Victory of the people |
| Origin | slavic | Slavic |
| Gender | Boy | Boy |
| Pronunciation | MEE-lahn | nee-koh-LY |
| Syllables | 2 | 3 |
| First appeared | 1885 | 1960 |
| Peak year | 2024 (1,554) | 2016 (639) |
| In 2025 | 1,418 | 469 |
| Trend | Near its peak | Rising |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Milan | Nikolai |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 7,056 | 3,057 |
| 2010s | 5,073 | 5,060 |
| 2000s | 1,248 | 1,632 |
| 1990s | 831 | 733 |
| 1980s | 439 | 291 |
| 1970s | 451 | 202 |
| 1960s | 432 | 52 |
| 1950s | 537 | 0 |
| 1940s | 529 | 0 |
| 1930s | 617 | 0 |
| 1920s | 881 | 0 |
| 1910s | 479 | 0 |
| 1900s | 24 | 0 |
| 1890s | 5 | 0 |
| 1880s | 6 | 0 |
A Slavic name from the element mil 'kind, dear, loving, gracious', originally a short form of longer Mil- names. (An unrelated South Asian Milan from Sanskrit milana 'union, meeting' also exists; the love sense is the Slavic one.)
Nikolai is a Slavic form of Nicholas, “victory of the people.”
Milan is more popular than Nikolai today: about 1,418 US babies were given the name Milan in 2025, compared with 469 named Nikolai.
Milan means Dear, loving (slavic origin), while Nikolai means Victory of the people (Slavic origin).
In US records, Milan first appears in 1885 and Nikolai in 1960, so Milan has the longer recorded history.