To me, he’s handsome, he’s smart, he’s got fun nicknames to suit every personality, but is he a little bit past his use by date? The youngest [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] I know is in his 20s, which is why I’m questioning it - I don’t want a future son to think I’ve given him a ‘dad’ name.
[name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] is a classic to me. I know two little boys named this (I work at a child care center, one of the babies 6 months, the other is a 3 year old boy) but I live in Upstate NY and there’s a lot of old-fashioned names that have never cycled out here, so I’m not sure what other parts of the country look like.
I think [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] is a very handsome and completely useable name! Like you said, there are plenty of nicknames for [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m], and spelling variants too for that matter. I know a teenage [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m], who loves his name, and one toddler who goes by [name_u]Nico[/name_u]! I would say it’s a classic, but definitely not a ‘Dad’ name. 
I’d say that it’s a classic but it feels dated to me.
It’s a classic. It doesn’t feel dated at all to me, and as someone already said, [name_u]Nico[/name_u] would jazz it up a bit (as would [name_u]Ollie[/name_u], a nickname for [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] I’m contemplating using but everyone says I’m mad so…) I know Nicholass (Nicholases? I can’t pluralise it properly…) of all ages.
It’s a classic. I don’t think it’s dated at all and would fit all personalities.
I don’t know, but it does not feel dated to me, I love it!
I think it is a bit of both. It is classic but due to all the modern sounding/trendy names out there… it seems dated
[name_m]Both[/name_m] [name_f]IMO[/name_f] - dated in the sense that it peaked 10-20 years ago and thus the majority of other Nicholases he’d meet would be older than him, but classic in that it’s a long established name without any major negatives to it. If you had asked about a more trendy-dated name like [name_m]Austin[/name_m] or [name_u]Tyler[/name_u] I’d think twice, but with the more classic-dated names I think it’d work fine (in fact I think these kinds of names work well if you’re looking for something recognizable yet not so common among the child’s peers).
Thanks for your thoughts ladies
@aillidh - I’m in the UK, but good to hear there’s still baby [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m]’ being born.
@babtr1ll - [name_f]One[/name_f] of the reasons I love it is for the nickname options, but I think I’d use the [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] spelling, it’s just so classic and British - [name_m]Nicolas[/name_m] feels too European for me.
@ciottolo - I’ve never thought of [name_u]Ollie[/name_u] for [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] but I guess it’s got the [name_m]Ol[/name_m] sound in it so it’s not too much of a stretch. Wouldn’t use it myself as I’ve got [name_m]Oliver[/name_m] on my list and I’d use [name_u]Ollie[/name_u] for that but I think it’s not as mad as it seems.
@namefan - Yeah I wouldn’t use a trendy-dated name (except as an honouring middle, but that’s a different topic) but I do like some of the “older” classics that you don’t hear on kids as much like [name_m]Simon[/name_m] and [name_m]Mark[/name_m], but I’m trying to gage whether I’d be best off just keeping them as middles or be brave and put them up front.
[name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] is a classic and timeless name. Its popularity has ebbed and flowed through the years but it’s been a favourite for ages. It can’t be “dated” because it has stood the test of time and naming fads. It’s still here in force so how can it be “dated”. To be defined as “dated”, a name either has to “appear out of nowhere (usually due to some cultural phenomenon - book, film, celebrity etc…), rocket up the charts and then disappear just as quickly” OR be extremely popular in a certain period of time (eg. [name_f]Linda[/name_f] in the forties/fifties, [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] in the 1970’s, [name_f]Michelle[/name_f] in the 1970’s etc…). [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] is definitely NOT “dated” from those two criteria. It’s a name that has endured for years and I suspect will continue to do so for years to come.
I think it is classic. I know a 9 year old [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] and he likes his name as far as I know!
[name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] is a classic.
Edited for privacy.
I was wondering if it was one of those classic in [name_u]America[/name_u] but dated in the UK things (I feel [name_m]Ian[/name_m] is fairly classic here, but everyone I talk to says that [name_m]Ian[/name_m] is a “dad’s name” in the UK…), but it seems like the people from the UK are saying similar to what the Americans are saying. I haven’t come across a ton of Nicholases, but I think it’s a fine, classic, fun name, and I love the idea of a little [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] nn [name_u]Nico[/name_u]! At the last family reunion I attended (not this summer, but the previous one), two little boys attended, one [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m] and one [name_u]Tyler[/name_u]. I believe the older was named [name_m]Nicholas[/name_m]–I think he was around six or seven. So it still feels pretty current to me. Then again, [name_u]Ryan[/name_u] feels extremely overdone and dated to me, but it’s pretty consistently top 5 in my state, so…