Coltyn
An English masculine name derived from the Anglo-Norman French town name Colton.
Name Census estimates that about 1,567 living Americans carry the first name Coltyn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Coltyn today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Coltyn births was 2012 (128 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Coltyn. 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
- • Coltyn is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.6K
~ 1 in 218,733 Americans
Peak year
2012
128 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,903
Tracked since 1989
Census
Coltyn in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,204 people with the first name Coltyn, which placed it at #10,871 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
#10,871
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,204 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Coltyn
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coltyn is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.6%) and Two or More Races (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 Coltyn 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 Coltyn at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.8% · 1,069
- Hispanic or Latino4.6% · 55
- Two or more races3.8% · 46
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.4% · 17
- Black or African American1.0% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 5
Popularity
Coltyn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Coltyn from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 828 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Coltyn 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 Coltyn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Coltyns live
The SSA's state-level files cover 15 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, Michigan recorded the most babies named Coltyn, while Minnesota, Kentucky, Alabama recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Coltyn
The name Coltyn is a modern English variant of the traditional name Colton, which has its origins in Old English. The name Colton is derived from two elements: "col," meaning coal or coal-black, and "tun," meaning an enclosed area or settlement. This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived in or near a coal-mining settlement.
While the name Colton has been recorded in various forms since the 11th century, the variant spelling Coltyn is relatively recent and appears to have emerged in the late 20th century. It is likely a creative respelling or modification of the traditional name, perhaps influenced by the growing popularity of unique or unconventional baby names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Colton can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners and their holdings in England compiled in 1086. The entry "Coltone" is listed, referring to a place name that may have been the origin of the surname.
Throughout history, there have been notable individuals who bore the name Colton or its variants. In the 16th century, John Colton (c. 1508-1560) was an English theologian and the Dean of York Cathedral. In the 18th century, Reverend Caleb Colton (1780-1832) was an English writer and clergyman best known for his aphoristic work "Lacon."
In the realm of literature, Walter Colton (1797-1851) was an American author and naval chaplain who wrote the popular book "Ship and Shore" in 1835. More recently, Larry Colton (born 1946) is an American author and journalist known for his non-fiction works, including "Counting Coup" and "Goat Brothers."
Another individual worth mentioning is John Colton (1889-1946), an American playwright and screenwriter who co-wrote the screenplay for the classic film "Beau Geste" in 1939.
While these examples showcase the historical use of the name Colton, the specific variant Coltyn has limited recorded instances prior to modern times. Its emergence as a distinct name likely reflects contemporary trends in creative name spellings and variations.
People
Coltyn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Coltyn 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
Coltyn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Coltyn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,567 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Coltyn 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 218,733 US residents.
Is Coltyn a common name?
We classify Coltyn as "Rare". It ranks above 92.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,583 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Coltyn most popular?
The single biggest year for Coltyn was 2012, when 128 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Coltyn is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Coltyn in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,204 people with the name Coltyn, or 0.40 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,871 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 Coltyn 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 Coltyn?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Coltyn leans strongly male. 1,193 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 15 female bearers (1.2%). 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 Coltyn?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Coltyn is White at 88.8%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.6%) and Two or More Races (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 Coltyn most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Coltyn in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.8% (1,069 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 Coltyn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Coltyn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Coltyn 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 Coltyn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Coltyn 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 Coltyn 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 Coltyn as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Coltyn, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.