Head to head · Boys' names
Albert vs Colby
#614 vs #615 in 2025
Albert is a whisker ahead (#614 vs #615 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Albert is stepping back from its peak, Colby is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Colby has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Albert leads 5 measures of 6; Colby leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Albert #16, Colby #1031 — Albert higher
- 1890s: Albert #16, Colby — — Albert higher
- 1900s: Albert #16, Colby — — Albert higher
- 1910s: Albert #17, Colby #3035 — Albert higher
- 1920s: Albert #21, Colby #3025 — Albert higher
- 1930s: Albert #32, Colby #3004 — Albert higher
- 1940s: Albert #48, Colby #2194 — Albert higher
- 1950s: Albert #75, Colby #1679 — Albert higher
- 1960s: Albert #100, Colby #1241 — Albert higher
- 1970s: Albert #127, Colby #495 — Albert higher
- 1980s: Albert #151, Colby #331 — Albert higher
- 1990s: Albert #221, Colby #215 — Colby higher
- 2000s: Albert #335, Colby #216 — Colby higher
- 2010s: Albert #433, Colby #454 — Albert higher
- 2020s: Albert #585, Colby #612 — Albert higher
Albert stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Albert has held the lead since the 2010s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Albert | Colby |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #16 | #1031 |
| 1890s | #16 | — |
| 1900s | #16 | — |
| 1910s | #17 | #3035 |
| 1920s | #21 | #3025 |
| 1930s | #32 | #3004 |
| 1940s | #48 | #2194 |
| 1950s | #75 | #1679 |
| 1960s | #100 | #1241 |
| 1970s | #127 | #495 |
| 1980s | #151 | #331 |
| 1990s | #221 | #215 |
| 2000s | #335 | #216 |
| 2010s | #433 | #454 |
| 2020s | #585 | #612 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Albert
- England & Wales#57
Colby
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Albert
noble and bright
The Germanic compound joins a word for noble to one for bright or famous. Both elements are among the commonest in the whole stock, and the reading has never been disputed.
Adalberht → Albert
How it traveled
The other Albert worth knowing about taught Thomas Aquinas. Albertus Magnus was a thirteenth-century German friar who wrote about theology, logic, botany, zoology, mineralogy, astronomy and the anatomy of insects, on the principle that observing the world was a legitimate way of thinking about it — which was not the consensus.
Colby
Koli's farmstead — from an Old Norse personal name plus býr, 'farm, settlement'
The second element, býr ('farm, village'), is not in doubt. The first is usually read as the Old Norse personal name Koli, giving 'Koli's settlement'; some place-name scholars read it instead as kol, 'coal' or 'charcoal', giving 'the charcoal farm'. Both point to the same villages in Norfolk, Cumbria and Lincolnshire.
Koli / kol (Old Norse) → býr (Old Norse: farm, settlement) → Colby (English village name) → Colby (English surname) → Colby (given name)
How it traveled
Northern and eastern England were settled by Norse speakers who left their vocabulary in the landscape, and the ending -by — farm, settlement — is one of the clearest fingerprints they left; Whitby, Grimsby and Colby all share it. Villages called Colby in Norfolk, Cumbria and on the Isle of Man gave their name to families who moved away from them, in the ordinary English way of turning a place into a surname.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Albert
AL-burt
Two syllables with the weight at the front. French says al-BAIR with the final consonant silent, and Italian and Spanish give it three as Alberto.
- Al — The standard American short form; used for women and men both.
- Bert — Cut from the back; a standing name of its own.
- Bertie — The affectionate British form; carried by two kings before they took other names.
Colby
KOHL-bee
Stress on the first syllable. Nobody has to ask twice, and the spelling follows the sound — though Kolby and Colbie both exist, so people may check which one you use.
- Cole — The most common short form, and a well-established given name in its own right, so some Colbys are Cole everywhere but on paperwork.
- Colb — Informal, mostly among friends and teammates rather than family.
- Coby — Informal respelling of the same sound; also exists independently as a name, including as a Dutch women's name.
- C.J. — Used when the middle name allows it; initials-based nicknames are common with surname-style first names.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Albert if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsAlbert is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooAlbert is on the national lists of England & Wales
- a long American recordAlbert was already in use when US records began in 1880
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 40% for Colby
Choose Colby if you want…
- a name on the way upup 3 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalColby entered the US charts in 1888
- a name that feels very nowColby is holding its place on the charts
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Albert
Strengths
- It has a form in every European language and is recognized across all of them.
- Al and Bert are established short forms with quite different registers.
- It has an unbroken run in American records from the first year they were kept.
To consider
- It is strongly associated with the first half of the twentieth century in America.
- The spelling is recorded for a small number of girls, though it reads overwhelmingly as a boy's name.
- Two British kings were christened Albert and both chose different names on taking the throne.
Colby
Strengths
- Spelling and sound match: heard once, it is usually written correctly the first time.
- Cole is a ready-made short form that already works as a full name, giving a formal and an informal register.
- An unbroken run on US birth records stretching back to the nineteenth century — familiar without being crowded.
To consider
- Colby cheese, named for a town in late nineteenth-century Wisconsin, is the association most Americans reach for first. It is mild and harmless as jokes go, but it will come up.
- Because it is still very much a surname elsewhere, Colby paired with another surname-type last name can read as two last names — worth saying the full combination out loud.
- Kolby and Colbie exist as alternate spellings, so expect the occasional 'C or K?' at the pharmacy counter.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Albert
12%chance Albert feels dated by 2040
Albert has held the top-100 across 9 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Colby
40%chance Colby feels dated by 2040
Colby sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Albert and Colby in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Albert and Colby?
Put both to the vote.
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Albert and Colby — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Albert or Colby — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Albert or Colby?
- Albert, in 2025: Albert ranked #614 with 461 babies; Colby ranked #615 with 455 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Albert or Colby?
- Colby. Over the last five years Albert moved down 91 places; Colby moved up 3 places.
- Which is the older name, Albert or Colby?
- Albert was already in use when US records began in 1880; Colby entered the US charts in 1888. On the American record, Albert is the older name.
- How many people are named Albert and Colby?
- About 179,000 people named Albert are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 52,000 people named Colby are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Alberts or Colbys in the classroom?
- Albert will almost certainly be the only one in school. Colby will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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