Kolbey
Of English origin, meaning "dark ridge" or "dark woods".
Name Census estimates that about 255 living Americans carry the first name Kolbey. It is a predominantly male name (91.5% of registrations). The average person named Kolbey today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kolbey births was 2003 (20 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kolbey. 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
255
~ 1 in 1,344,135 Americans
Peak year
2003
20 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2017 SSA rank
#11,559
Tracked since 1990
Census
Kolbey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 272 people with the first name Kolbey, which placed it at #31,478 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
#31,478
National first-name rank
People counted
272
272 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
73.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kolbey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kolbey is White at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Hispanic (6.6%). 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 Kolbey 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 Kolbey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White73.5% · 200
- Black or African American10.3% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino6.6% · 18
- Two or more races5.5% · 15
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.9% · 8
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Kolbey
Kolbey leans heavily male at 91.5% of total registrations, but 22 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Kolbey as a male name
- Ranked #11,559 in 2017
- 6 male births in 2017
- Peak: 2009 (18 births)
Kolbey as a female name
- Ranked #18,292 in 2011
- 5 female births in 2011
- Peak: 1999 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kolbey on both sides of the split. Of the 272 people counted with this name, 201 were male (73.9%) and 71 were female (26.1%).
Popularity
Kolbey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kolbey from the 1990s through to the 2010s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 126 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Kolbey remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kolbey 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 Kolbey 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 Kolbey
The name Kolbey is a relatively modern variant of the more traditional name Colby. Its origins can be traced back to the Old Norse language, where it derived from the words "kol" meaning "coal" and "by" meaning "village" or "settlement." This suggests that the name may have originated in Scandinavian regions, possibly referring to a settlement near a coal mine or coal-producing area.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Colby date back to the 11th century in England, where it was likely introduced by Norse settlers during the Viking Age. It gained popularity as a surname in various parts of Britain, particularly in the counties of Norfolk and Suffolk.
While the name Kolbey itself does not appear to have any direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its older variant, Colby, has been associated with notable individuals throughout history.
One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Sir Colby de Norwyche, an English knight who lived in the 13th century. Another notable figure was Colby Lamport, an English politician and landowner who served as a Member of Parliament in the late 16th century.
In the United States, the name Colby gained prominence in the 19th century. Colby College, a private liberal arts college in Waterville, Maine, was founded in 1813 and named after its benefactor, Mary Colby. The college's first president, Jeremiah Chaplin, was also known as Jeremiah Colby.
Another notable individual with the name was Bainbridge Colby, an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of State under President Woodrow Wilson from 1920 to 1921.
In more recent times, the name Colby has been associated with several public figures, including Colby Calhoun, an American politician and former member of the Michigan House of Representatives, and Colby Donaldson, an American reality television personality known for his appearances on the shows "Survivor" and "Top Chef."
While the variant spelling Kolbey is less common, it may have emerged as a modern twist on the traditional name, reflecting the trend of creating unique or personalized name variations. However, its precise origins and the reasons behind its adoption remain somewhat obscure.
People
Kolbey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kolbey as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kolbey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kolbey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 255 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kolbey 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 1,344,135 US residents.
Is Kolbey a common name?
We classify Kolbey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 259 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kolbey most popular?
The single biggest year for Kolbey was 2003, when 20 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kolbey is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kolbey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 272 people with the name Kolbey, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,478 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 Kolbey 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 Kolbey?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Kolbey on both sides of the split. Of the 272 people counted with this name, 201 were male (73.9%) and 71 were female (26.1%). 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 Kolbey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kolbey is White at 73.5%. The next largest groups are Black (10.3%) and Hispanic (6.6%). 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 Kolbey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kolbey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 73.5% (200 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 Kolbey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kolbey a male name?
Yes, 91.5% of people registered as Kolbey 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 Kolbey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kolbey 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 Kolbey 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 Americans are named Kolbey?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.