日本光学器材制造商尼康（Nikon）在1932年正式采用「Nikkor」（尼克尔）为相机镜头品牌。尼克尔镜头使用尼康F卡口，法兰距为46.5mm。

尼康镜头在名称中都涵盖了其主要数据及特性。如：镜头AF-S 18-70mm F/3.5-4.5G DX ED IF，使用了诸如AF-S, G, DX, ED, 和IF的技术。这种镜头名称中的缩略用语让消费者更直接的了解到镜头的特色，即使该镜头的功能只是理论数据上的。下面是一些缩略用语的具体含义（依英文本母排序）：

Nikkor is the brand of lenses produced by Nikon Corporation, including camera lenses for the Nikon F-mount.

The Nikkor brand was introduced in 1932, a Westernised rendering of an earlier version Nikkō (日光), an abbreviation of the company's original full name Nippon Kōgaku ("Japan Optics"; 日本光学工業株式会社). (Nikkō also means "sunlight" and is the name of a Japanese town.) In 1933, Nikon marketed its first camera lens under the Nikkor brand name, the "Aero-NIKKOR," for aerial photography.