Nich.

Nich. is a clerk's shortening of the given name Nicholas. Busy writers cut common first names down to a few letters, often raising the last letters above the line, and the habit runs through deeds, wills, tax lists and census pages.

Some clerks wrote the name as Nic with a small raised s instead, and indexers may miss the raised letter. The same man can appear as Nich., Nics and Nicholas in different records, so search all three forms.