Colita
A feminine name of Spanish origin meaning "little tail".
Name Census estimates that about 36 living Americans carry the first name Colita. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Colita today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Colita births was 1973 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Colita. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Colita. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
36
~ 1 in 9,520,954 Americans
Peak year
1973
11 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
1981 SSA rank
#7,527
Tracked since 1959
Popularity
Colita: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Colita from the 1950s through to the 1980s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1970s, with 16 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1970s peak, Colita remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Colita 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 Colita 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 Colita
Colita is a Spanish diminutive form of the name Cola, which itself is a shortened version of the name Nicolasa. The name Nicolasa has its roots in the Greek name Nikolaos, meaning "victory of the people." The earliest known usage of the name Colita can be traced back to the late 16th century in Spain and parts of Latin America.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Colita is found in the baptismal records of the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where a young girl named Colita Guadalupe was baptized in 1598. This suggests that the name was already in use among Spanish colonists in the Americas by the late 16th century.
In the 17th century, a Spanish noblewoman named Colita de Mendoza y Figueroa (1612-1678) gained fame for her patronage of the arts and her support for the poor in her hometown of Seville. Her legacy as a philanthropist and patron of the arts helped popularize the name in Spain during this period.
During the 19th century, the name Colita gained some prominence in Latin American literature. One notable example is the character Colita Fernández, a young protagonist in the popular Venezuelan novel "La Tregua" (The Truce) by Rafael Romero (1837-1909).
In the early 20th century, a Mexican artist named Colita Cano (1893-1964) gained recognition for her vibrant paintings depicting scenes of everyday life in Mexico. Her work was instrumental in promoting Mexican folk art and culture on an international stage.
Another notable figure with the name Colita was Colita de Vilallonga (1920-2002), a Spanish aristocrat and socialite who was widely admired for her elegance and philanthropic endeavors. She played a significant role in promoting Spanish culture and traditions throughout her lifetime.
While the name Colita has its roots in the Spanish language, it has also been adopted and used in other cultures and languages around the world, particularly in Latin America. However, it remains most closely associated with its Spanish and Latin American heritage.
People
Colita + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Colita 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
Colita: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Colita?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 36 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Colita 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 9,520,954 US residents.
Is Colita a common name?
We classify Colita as "Very Rare". It ranks above 49.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 41 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Colita most popular?
The single biggest year for Colita was 1973, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Colita is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Colita a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Colita in the SSA data are female. 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.
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.