Coleman
A masculine given name of Irish origin meaning "great migrator".
Name Census estimates that about 13,194 living Americans carry the first name Coleman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Coleman today is around 31 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Coleman births was 1997 (421 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Coleman. 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
13K
~ 1 in 25,978 Americans
Peak year
1997
421 babies that year
Average age
31
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,279
Tracked since 1880
Census
Coleman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,581 people with the first name Coleman, which placed it at #2,250 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
#2,250
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
11,581 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Coleman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coleman is White at 83.0%. The next largest groups are Black (8.6%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Coleman 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 Coleman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.0% · 9,615
- Black or African American8.6% · 994
- Two or more races3.9% · 454
- Hispanic or Latino2.7% · 310
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 109
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 99
Gender
Gender distribution for Coleman
Out of the 17,480 babies given the name Coleman since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Coleman as a male name
- Ranked #1,279 in 2024
- 153 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1997 (421 births)
Coleman as a female name
- Ranked #17,146 in 2014
- 5 female births in 2014
- Peak: 1989 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Coleman leans strongly male. 11,416 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 157 female bearers (1.4%).
Popularity
Coleman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Coleman from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 3,498 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
Coleman 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 Coleman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Colemans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 37 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Coleman, while West Virginia, New Hampshire, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 320 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Coleman
The name Coleman is an English given name derived from the Old English words "col" meaning coal and "mann" meaning man, resulting in the meaning "coal man" or "charcoal burner." This occupational name dates back to the Middle Ages when charcoal burning was a common trade.
The earliest recorded use of the name Coleman can be traced back to the 13th century in England. One of the earliest known individuals with the name was Coleman de Wych, a wealthy landowner and merchant who lived in London during the late 13th century.
In the 14th century, a notable figure named Coleman the Younger was a renowned architect and stonemason responsible for designing several churches and cathedrals in England, including the iconic York Minster.
During the Renaissance period, Coleman Castellio, an Italian humanist and scholar born in 1516, gained recognition for his contributions to the field of linguistics and his advocacy for religious tolerance.
In the 17th century, Coleman Adeyr, a Welsh poet and writer born in 1638, was widely celebrated for his poetic works that captured the beauty of the Welsh landscape and the struggles of the common people.
Moving into the 18th century, Coleman Hawkins, an American jazz saxophonist born in 1904, is considered one of the most influential figures in the history of jazz music. His innovative style and improvisational skills helped shape the development of the jazz genre.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who bore the given name Coleman. The name's origins as an occupational name related to the coal trade have endured over the centuries, and it continues to be used as a given name in various parts of the English-speaking world.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Coleman
People
Coleman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Coleman 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
Coleman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Coleman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 13,194 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Coleman 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 25,978 US residents.
Is Coleman a common name?
We classify Coleman as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 17,480 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Coleman most popular?
The single biggest year for Coleman was 1997, when 421 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Coleman is about 31 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Coleman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,581 people with the name Coleman, or 3.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,250 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 Coleman 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 Coleman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Coleman leans strongly male. 11,416 people counted with this name were male (98.6%), compared with 157 female bearers (1.4%). 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 Coleman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coleman is White at 83.0%. The next largest groups are Black (8.6%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Coleman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Coleman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.0% (9,615 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 Coleman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Coleman a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Coleman 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 Coleman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Coleman 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 Coleman 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 share the name Coleman?
You can see how many Americans are named Coleman on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.