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I'm not fond of Nicole, but I definitely prefer it to Nicola. I don't know why but Nicola just sounds annoying. I think a Nicola would be every bit as likely to be called Nikki as Nicole, which is maybe a fifty-fifty chance or greater.

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Here in Delaware there is a fairly famous pizza parlor on the boardwalk called Nicola's. Very good food, lots of celebrity customers' photos on the walls, and it's run by a very nice family and has been for something like forty years. Nicola was the father's name, apparently, and his son, who runs the place now with his mother, is Nick, presumably Nicola Junior.