Colin
A masculine Scottish name, derived from the Old Gaelic word "cailín" meaning "little boy".
Name Census estimates that about 127,234 living Americans carry the first name Colin. It sits at #334 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Colin today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Colin births was 2004 (5,147 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Colin. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Colin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Colin is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 445 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
127K
~ 1 in 2,694 Americans
Peak year
2004
5,147 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#334
Tracked since 1880
Census
Colin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 123,028 people with the first name Colin, which placed it at #460 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
#460
National first-name rank
People counted
123K
123,028 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
40.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Colin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Colin is White at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Colin 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 Colin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.7% · 104,204
- Two or more races4.5% · 5,528
- Black or African American3.8% · 4,658
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 4,592
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 3,493
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 553
Gender
Gender distribution for Colin
Out of the 133,202 babies given the name Colin since 1880, 99.7% 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.
Colin as a male name
- Ranked #334 in 2024
- 1,035 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2004 (5,122 births)
Colin as a female name
- Ranked #15,756 in 2021
- 5 female births in 2021
- Peak: 2004 (25 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Colin appears almost entirely male. Of the 123,025 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Colin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Colin 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 39,197 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
Colin 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 Colin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Colins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. California, New York, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Colin, while Wyoming, North Dakota, Alaska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 2,532 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Colin
The name Colin originated from the ancient Gaelic language and has its roots in the medieval era. It is derived from the Gaelic word "caillin," which means "young boy" or "lad." The name was popular among the Celtic people of Ireland, Scotland, and parts of England during the Middle Ages.
Colin is believed to have originated as a diminutive form of the name Calum, which is the Scottish Gaelic equivalent of the name Columba. Saint Columba was an Irish abbot and missionary who is credited with spreading Christianity in Scotland during the 6th century. His monastic settlement on the island of Iona played a crucial role in the spread of Christianity throughout Scotland and parts of England.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Colin can be found in the Annals of Ulster, an ancient chronicle of medieval Irish history. The annals mention a Colin O'Loughlin, who was the King of Meath in Ireland in the 11th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Colin. Colin Campbell (1676-1729) was a Scottish architect who designed several prominent buildings in London, including the famous Wanstead House. Colin Clout (c. 1520-1571) was the pen name used by the English poet Edmund Spenser in his pastoral poetry.
In the 19th century, Colin Maclaurin (1698-1746) was a Scottish mathematician who made significant contributions to the study of infinitesimal calculus. Colin Firth (born 1960) is a renowned British actor who has won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for his role in the film "The King's Speech."
Another famous bearer of the name is Colin Powell (born 1937), the former United States Secretary of State and the first African American to serve in that position. He played a pivotal role in various military and diplomatic endeavors throughout his career.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Colin
People
Colin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Colin 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
Colin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Colin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 127,234 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Colin 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 2,694 US residents.
Is Colin a common name?
We classify Colin as "Common". It ranks above 99.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 133,202 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Colin most popular?
The single biggest year for Colin was 2004, when 5,147 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Colin is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Colin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 123,028 people with the name Colin, or 40.73 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #460 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 Colin 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 Colin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Colin appears almost entirely male. Of the 123,025 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Colin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Colin is White at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Black (3.8%). 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 Colin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Colin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.7% (104,204 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 Colin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Colin a male name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Colin 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 Colin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Colin 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 Colin 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 have the name Colin?
If you just want to know how many people share the name Colin, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.