Cohl
A name of unknown origin, potentially a variant spelling.
Name Census estimates that about 210 living Americans carry the first name Cohl. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cohl today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cohl births was 2000 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cohl. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
210
~ 1 in 1,632,164 Americans
Peak year
2000
16 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,402
Tracked since 1991
Census
Cohl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 226 people with the first name Cohl, which placed it at #35,529 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#35,529
National first-name rank
People counted
226
226 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cohl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cohl is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.1%) and Black (6.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Cohl described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Cohl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.5% · 182
- Two or more races7.1% · 16
- Black or African American6.6% · 15
- Hispanic or Latino3.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.2% · 5
Popularity
Cohl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cohl from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 113 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cohl by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Cohl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cohl
The name Cohl is a relatively uncommon first name with origins that can be traced back to ancient Germanic languages. It is believed to have derived from the Old High German word "kol," which means "coal" or "charcoal." This suggests that the name may have originally referred to someone who worked with coal or had a dark complexion.
In the early medieval period, variations of the name, such as "Coln" and "Kohln," were found in various Germanic regions, including present-day Germany and the Netherlands. However, written records of individuals bearing the name Cohl are scarce.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cohl can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Anhaltinus, a collection of historical documents from the former Principality of Anhalt in Germany. In this text, dating back to the 12th century, a man named Cohl von Bernburg is mentioned as a landowner in the region.
Another notable figure in history who bore the name Cohl was a 14th-century German knight and military commander. Cohl von Mansberg served under the Teutonic Knights and was involved in several campaigns against pagan tribes in the Baltic region.
In the 16th century, a Dutch artist and engraver named Cohl Boschaert gained recognition for his intricate woodcut prints depicting biblical scenes and allegorical subjects. Born in Antwerp in 1548, Boschaert's works were highly sought after by collectors during his lifetime.
Moving forward to the 18th century, a German theologian and philosopher named Cohl Gottlieb Schütz made significant contributions to the field of religious studies. Born in 1724 in Saxony, Schütz's writings explored the relationship between reason and faith, and he was a proponent of the Enlightenment movement.
In the 19th century, a Swiss watchmaker named Cohl Humbert-Droz played a pivotal role in the development of the modern chronograph. Born in 1819 in Le Locle, Humbert-Droz's innovations in the design and manufacturing of chronograph movements revolutionized timekeeping and helped establish Switzerland as a leader in the watch industry.
While the name Cohl has remained relatively uncommon throughout history, these examples demonstrate its presence across various regions and time periods, primarily within Germanic and Dutch cultures. Despite its rarity, the name has been associated with individuals who made notable contributions in fields ranging from art and military to theology and horology.
People
Cohl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cohl as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Cohl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cohl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 210 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cohl going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,632,164 US residents.
Is Cohl a common name?
We classify Cohl as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 213 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cohl most popular?
The single biggest year for Cohl was 2000, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cohl is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cohl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 226 people with the name Cohl, or 0.07 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,529 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Cohl in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Cohl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cohl leans strongly male. 228 people counted with this name were male (98.3%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.7%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Cohl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cohl is White at 80.5%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.1%) and Black (6.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Cohl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cohl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.5% (182 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Cohl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cohl a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cohl in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Cohl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cohl in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Cohl can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Cohl?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.