Colden
Of English origin, a name meaning "from the cold valley".
Name Census estimates that about 977 living Americans carry the first name Colden. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Colden today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Colden births was 2016 (56 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Colden. 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
977
~ 1 in 350,823 Americans
Peak year
2016
56 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,940
Tracked since 1944
Census
Colden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 820 people with the first name Colden, which placed it at #14,393 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
#14,393
National first-name rank
People counted
820
820 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
85.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Colden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Colden is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Black (5.6%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Colden 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 Colden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White85.2% · 699
- Black or African American5.6% · 46
- Two or more races5.0% · 41
- Hispanic or Latino3.2% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 3
Popularity
Colden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Colden from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 424 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Colden remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Colden 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 Colden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Coldens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Texas recorded the most babies named Colden, while Georgia, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 55 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Colden
The given name Colden has its origins in English language and culture, with roots dating back to the medieval period. The name is derived from the Old English word "colden," which means "cold" or "chilly." It was likely used as a descriptive name for someone who was born or lived in a cold region or during a particularly harsh winter.
The earliest recorded use of the name Colden can be traced back to the 13th century, appearing in various historical documents and records from that time. One notable early bearer of the name was Colden of Coldenham, a medieval landowner and nobleman who lived in the county of Kent, England, in the late 12th century.
During the Renaissance period, the name Colden gained some popularity among the English nobility and gentry. One of the most famous individuals with this name was Cadwallader Colden, a Scottish-American physician, naturalist, and lieutenant governor of New York colony, who lived from 1688 to 1776. He made significant contributions to the study of botany and natural sciences in the American colonies.
In the 19th century, the name Colden was also associated with the abolitionist movement in the United States. Colden V. Cullen was an African American minister and activist who fought against slavery and worked for the rights of freed slaves. He lived from 1832 to 1897 and was a prominent figure in the anti-slavery movement.
Another notable bearer of the name Colden was Clarence Colden, an American lawyer and politician from New York who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1903 to 1909. He was born in 1854 and died in 1934.
In the field of literature, Colden Salley was an American poet and writer who lived from 1929 to 2005. He was known for his works that explored themes of nature, spirituality, and the human experience.
While the name Colden has its roots in English language and culture, it has been used across various regions and time periods, often carrying a connection to the natural world and a sense of resilience in the face of harsh conditions.
People
Colden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Colden 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
Colden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Colden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 977 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Colden 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 350,823 US residents.
Is Colden a common name?
We classify Colden as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 990 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Colden most popular?
The single biggest year for Colden was 2016, when 56 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Colden is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Colden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 820 people with the name Colden, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,393 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 Colden 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 Colden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Colden appears almost entirely male. Of the 823 people counted with this name, 99.0% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Colden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Colden is White at 85.2%. The next largest groups are Black (5.6%) and Two or More Races (5.0%). 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 Colden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Colden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 85.2% (699 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 Colden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Colden a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Colden 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 Colden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Colden 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 Colden 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 named Colden?
Want to know how many Americans are named Colden? HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, puts the living-bearer count front and centre.