Nichol
A short form of Nicholas, ultimately meaning “victory of the people.”
The #9,754 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 92,912 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Nichol is a medieval short form of Nicholas, a very common given name in England after the Norman Conquest. The name Nicholas comes from Greek elements meaning “victory” and “people,” so the underlying sense is roughly “victory of the people.” In surname use, Nichol would originally have been a patronymic, identifying someone as the son or descendant of a man named Nicholas or Nichol.
History
The form appears in medieval and later English records, and 19th-century surname writers treated it as one of the standard family-name derivatives of Nicholas. Related forms such as Nicholls and Nicholson became more common, but Nichol has remained in use, especially in Britain and in areas influenced by British naming traditions. The name also survives in compounds and older patronymic forms like Fitz-Nichol.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Lower noted that Fitz-Nichol was not unusual after the Conquest, showing how widely the personal name Nicholas spread in medieval England.
From the historical record
“NIBLETT. See Nibbs. NICHOL. NICHOLS. See Nicholas. NICHOLAS. The Christian name. Hence the derivatives Nicliol, Nicholls, Nicholson, Nicholay, Nix, Nicks, Nicksou, Nixon, Nickels, Nicol, NickoU, Nickerson, Nickis- son, Nickiuson. NICHOLAY. See Nicholas. This name in its present spelling occurs in H.R.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom