Colin

What Colin means

Short form of Nicholas, meaning “victory + people”

short form of Nicholas || From Middle English Nicholas, from Old French Nicholas, from Latin Nīcolāus, from Ancient Greek Νικόλαος (Nikólaos), from νίκη (níkē, “victory”) +‎ λαός (laós, “people”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Colin” (revision 94538444) and “Nicholas” (revision 94542075), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Colin?

US: Falling: down from #172 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #821 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2004, when 5,122 boys got the name (#85 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,798 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 15,996 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 3,274 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in DC (3.17 per 1,000 boys), MA (2.74 per 1,000 boys), NH (2.44 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Colin is #343 in the US and #1538 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Colin were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Collin613 US
• Kylin94 US
• Calan34 US · 6 E&W
• Kollin38 US
• Calen35 US · 3 E&W
• Kalin14 US · 8 E&W
• Kolin18 US
• Caolan0 US · 17 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Colin

Boys

• Evan#153“God is gracious”^*
• Andy#565Diminutive of Andrew, meaning “manly”^*
• Christian#96Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2000, with 16,059 babies; 3,641 in 2025
• Oscar#223Editor’s note Down from #181 in 2015 to #223 in 2025 in the US
• Alexander#30“to defend + man”^*
• Bryan#336Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #166 in 2015, #336 in 2025

For a sister

• Ashlyn#972“dream, vision”^*
• Alexis#554“helper, defender”^*
• Angel#546Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 2002, with 3,100 babies; 551 in 2025
• Anna#107Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #44 in 2015, #107 in 2025
• Kaitlyn#799Editor’s note Cooling off in the US: #197 in 2015, #799 in 2025
• Jenna#679Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1985, with 6,436 babies; 418 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Greek, Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Colin’s. Rank is US 2025.