Colonel
An English military rank derived from the French "coronel".
Name Census estimates that about 306 living Americans carry the first name Colonel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Colonel today is around 74 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Colonel births was 1920 (37 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Colonel. 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
- • The typical person named Colonel is about 74 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Colonels were born before 1962.
People living today
306
~ 1 in 1,120,112 Americans
Peak year
1920
37 babies that year
Average age
74
years old
1987 SSA rank
#6,241
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Colonel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Colonel from the 1880s through to the 1980s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 274 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Colonel 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 Colonel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Colonels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. North Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Colonel, while Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 19 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Colonel
Colonel is a military rank rather than a given name. It originated from the 16th century French word 'colonnel', derived from the Italian word 'colonnello', meaning 'leader of a column'. The French term was adopted into English in the late 16th century.
The word 'colonel' has its roots in the Italian word 'colonna', meaning 'column'. This military term referred to the officer responsible for leading a column of soldiers or troops. The rank of colonel initially denoted the commanding officer of a regiment or battalion.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, during the era of European colonization and military expansion, the rank of colonel became widespread across various armies, including those of Spain, France, and England. It was a crucial position, commanding significant military forces and playing a pivotal role in military operations.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the use of the term 'colonel' dates back to the late 16th century. Sir Thomas Fairfax, an English military commander during the English Civil War (1642-1651), held the rank of colonel in the Parliamentarian army.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have held the rank of colonel, including George Washington (1732-1799), the first President of the United States, who served as a colonel in the Virginia militia during the French and Indian War. Another famous colonel was Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), the 26th President of the United States, who earned the rank during the Spanish-American War for his leadership of the Rough Riders.
Other notable colonels include Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970), the French military leader and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II, and Claus von Stauffenberg (1907-1944), the German army officer who attempted to assassinate Adolf Hitler in the July 20th Plot of 1944.
While the term 'colonel' has been widely used in military contexts across various nations and time periods, it is not commonly used as a given name. Instead, it remains a respected military rank, signifying leadership, command, and tactical expertise within the armed forces.
People
Colonel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Colonel 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
Colonel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Colonel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 306 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Colonel 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 1,120,112 US residents.
Is Colonel a common name?
We classify Colonel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 79.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,250 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Colonel most popular?
The single biggest year for Colonel was 1920, when 37 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Colonel is about 74 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Colonel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Colonel 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.