Colm
An Irish masculine name from the Gaelic "colm" meaning "dove".
Name Census estimates that about 633 living Americans carry the first name Colm. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Colm today is around 24 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Colm births was 2007 (28 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Colm. 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
633
~ 1 in 541,476 Americans
Peak year
2007
28 babies that year
Average age
24
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,216
Tracked since 1962
Popularity
Colm: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Colm from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 189 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Colm remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Colm 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 Colm during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Colms live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Colm, while Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New York recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 6 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Colm
The name Colm is of Irish origin, derived from the Gaelic name Colmán, which means "dove". It has been used in Ireland since ancient times and is associated with several notable figures in Irish history and folklore.
The name Colm is believed to have been introduced into Ireland during the 5th or 6th century AD, as Christianity spread throughout the island. Several early Irish saints bore this name, including St. Colm Cille (also known as St. Columba), who was born in 521 AD in County Donegal. He is revered as one of the most influential figures in the spread of Christianity in Ireland and Scotland.
Another significant figure with the name Colm was Colm Cille mac Feradaig (c. 555-639 AD), also known as St. Columba of Iona. He was an Irish monk and missionary who founded several monasteries, including the famous Iona Abbey in Scotland.
In Irish mythology, Colm appears as the name of a legendary hero or warrior. The Fenian Cycle, a collection of tales and legends from ancient Ireland, mentions a figure named Colm mac Crimthainn, who was a member of the Fianna, a group of warrior-hunters led by the famous Finn MacCool.
Throughout Irish history, there have been several notable individuals bearing the name Colm. These include Colm Cille Comhraic (c. 916-962), an Irish king who ruled over the Kingdom of Ailech in the 10th century, and Colm Ó Cléirigh (c. 1590-1644), a renowned Irish historian and chronicler who compiled the Annals of the Four Masters.
In more recent times, the name Colm has been borne by several influential Irish figures, such as Colm Wilkinson (born 1944), a renowned Irish actor and singer who originated the role of Jean Valjean in the musical Les Misérables; Colm Tóibín (born 1955), an acclaimed Irish novelist and essayist; and Colm Feore (born 1958), an Irish-Canadian actor known for his roles in films such as Pearl Harbor and The Amazing Spider-Man 2.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Colm
People
Colm + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Colm 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
Colm: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Colm?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 633 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Colm 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 541,476 US residents.
Is Colm a common name?
We classify Colm as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 650 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Colm most popular?
The single biggest year for Colm was 2007, when 28 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Colm is about 24 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Colm a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Colm 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.
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.