Kolleen
A feminine form of the Irish name Colleen, meaning young woman or girl.
Name Census estimates that about 858 living Americans carry the first name Kolleen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kolleen today is around 53 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kolleen births was 1962 (48 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kolleen. 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
858
~ 1 in 399,481 Americans
Peak year
1962
48 babies that year
Average age
53
years old
2011 SSA rank
#18,293
Tracked since 1946
Popularity
Kolleen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kolleen from the 1940s through to the 2010s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 326 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kolleen 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 Kolleen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kolleens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 6 states and territories. California, Michigan, New York recorded the most babies named Kolleen, while Wisconsin, Washington, Illinois recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kolleen
The name Kolleen is derived from the Irish Gaelic name Cailín, which means "young woman" or "girl." It is believed to have originated in the early medieval period, around the 5th to 8th centuries AD, in the Celtic regions of Ireland and Scotland.
The name Cailín itself is a diminutive form of the Old Irish word "caile," meaning "young woman" or "maiden." The addition of the "en" suffix in Kolleen is likely a later anglicization of the name, possibly influenced by English or French naming traditions.
While the name Kolleen does not appear to have any direct references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, its Irish Gaelic root, Cailín, was commonly used in medieval Irish literature and folklore. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kolleen can be found in the 16th century.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Kolleen. One of the earliest recorded figures was Kolleen O'Brien (1534-1597), an Irish noblewoman and landowner from County Clare, Ireland. Another notable Kolleen was Kolleen Bawn (1566-1603), an Irish chieftain's wife who was at the center of a famous 16th-century legal dispute over inheritance rights.
In the 19th century, Kolleen Killeen (1838-1912) was a prominent Irish-American philanthropist and community leader in New York City. Kolleen Fitzpatrick (1892-1967) was an Irish-born American actress and vaudeville performer active in the early 20th century.
More recently, Kolleen Diory (1924-2014) was an American fashion designer and entrepreneur who founded the successful clothing line "Kole-Kole" in the mid-20th century.
While the spelling "Kolleen" is less common today, the name remains a part of the Irish and Irish-American cultural heritage, reflecting its roots in the Celtic traditions of Ireland and Scotland.
People
Kolleen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kolleen 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
Kolleen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kolleen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 858 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kolleen 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 399,481 US residents.
Is Kolleen a common name?
We classify Kolleen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,016 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kolleen most popular?
The single biggest year for Kolleen was 1962, when 48 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kolleen is about 53 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kolleen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kolleen 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.