Head to head · Girls' names
Camille vs Collins
#240 vs #241 in 2025
Camille is a whisker ahead (#240 vs #241 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Camille is holding its place on the charts, Collins is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Collins 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, Camille leads 5 measures of 6; Collins 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: Camille #636, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1890s: Camille #532, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1900s: Camille #507, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1910s: Camille #498, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1920s: Camille #562, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1930s: Camille #463, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1940s: Camille #341, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1950s: Camille #396, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1960s: Camille #421, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1970s: Camille #386, Collins — — Camille higher
- 1980s: Camille #345, Collins #9546 — Camille higher
- 1990s: Camille #274, Collins — — Camille higher
- 2000s: Camille #279, Collins #14404 — Camille higher
- 2010s: Camille #250, Collins #879 — Camille higher
- 2020s: Camille #255, Collins #280 — Camille higher
Camille stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Camille | Collins |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #636 | — |
| 1890s | #532 | — |
| 1900s | #507 | — |
| 1910s | #498 | — |
| 1920s | #562 | — |
| 1930s | #463 | — |
| 1940s | #341 | — |
| 1950s | #396 | — |
| 1960s | #421 | — |
| 1970s | #386 | — |
| 1980s | #345 | #9546 |
| 1990s | #274 | — |
| 2000s | #279 | #14404 |
| 2010s | #250 | #879 |
| 2020s | #255 | #280 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Camille
- France#75
Collins
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
Camille
From the Roman name Camillus/Camilla — a young attendant at a religious rite
In classical Latin, camillus and camilla named a boy or girl who assisted a priest at sacrifices, and that is the reading usually given. But Roman writers themselves treated the word as an inheritance from Etruscan, a language only partly deciphered, so the meaning behind the meaning is genuinely lost. Both facts are true at once: a documented Latin sense sitting on top of an older, unreadable root.
Camillus → Camilla → Camille
How it traveled
The name begins as Camillus, a family name among the Romans, and its feminine Camilla was made famous by Virgil in the Aeneid, where Camilla is a swift-footed warrior of the Volsci. Latin Camilla passed into Italian and Spanish as Camilla and Camila, and into French, where it flattened to Camille and — unusually — settled as a name for boys and girls alike.
Collins
either "son of Colin" (ultimately Nicholas) or an anglicized Ó Coileáin, from Irish coileán, "young hound"
Two genuine roads reach the same spelling. In England, Collins is a patronymic from the medieval given name Colin, itself a pet form of Nicholas, from Greek Nikolaos, "victory of the people." In Ireland, Collins is the standard anglicization of Ó Coileáin, built on coileán, "whelp" or "young hound." Irish-American families overwhelmingly carry the second; both are well documented, and neither cancels the other.
Nikolaos → Nicholas → Colin → Collins
How it traveled
For most of its life Collins was a surname, and one of the most widespread in both England and Ireland — English bearers descended from a Colin, Irish bearers from the Ó Coileáin sept of County Limerick and West Cork, whose name was reshaped into English spelling under centuries of anglicization. It crossed the Atlantic in enormous numbers with Irish emigration in the nineteenth century, which is why it became an ordinary American surname long before it was anyone's first name.
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
Camille
kuh-MEEL
Standard in American English, with the stress on the second syllable. French speakers say kah-MEE, with the final consonants silent; a third version, kuh-MEE-uh, follows the Italian Camilla and turns up occasionally. Any of the three is defensible, so it helps to pick one early.
- Cami — The most common English short form; also given on its own to some children, and shared with Camila and Cameron.
- Cam — Informal and unisex, overlapping with Cameron and Campbell.
- Cammie — Older-style diminutive, mostly used within families.
- Millie — Takes the second half rather than the first; independently a full given name in its own right.
- Also Mimi.
Collins
KOL-inz
Stress on the first syllable, and the final -s is pronounced as a z. Two syllables everywhere in the English-speaking world; no competing pronunciation.
- Collie — The most natural family shortening; informal, home-and-cousins use.
- Cole — Drops the ending entirely; also a standalone given name, more often a boy's.
- Lin — Takes the second half; informal, and stands alone as a name in its own right.
- CoCo — Playful reduplication used mostly with small children.
Who has carried each name
Camille
Camille Claudel (b. 1864) — Sculptor whose genius rivaled Rodin's
Collins
No documented entry for Collins yet.
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Camille if you want…
- a name holding steadyCamille is holding its place on the charts
- a name that charts abroad tooCamille is on the national lists of France
- a long American recordCamille was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Collins if you want…
- a name on the way upup 123 places on the charts in five years
- a newer arrivalCollins entered the US charts in 1982
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
Camille
Strengths
- A spelling most English speakers can read and write on the first attempt, unlike many French-derived names.
- Continuously on American records since the earliest data, with no boom-and-bust cycle behind it.
- Works across languages: Camille in France, Camilla in Italy, Camila in Spanish-speaking countries, Kamila in Poland.
To consider
- Three pronunciations circulate: kuh-MEEL, French kah-MEE, and occasionally kuh-MEE-uh. Expect to correct people, especially if you prefer the French one.
- Camila and Camilla are close cousins and currently much more widely given, so Camille gets heard or written as one of those fairly often.
- In France the name is given to boys as well as girls. That rarely matters in American life, but it can surprise francophone relatives or come up on forms abroad.
Collins
Strengths
- Spelling needs no explanation — Collins is already one of the most familiar surnames in English, so people write it correctly on the first try.
- A long unbroken record as a family name in both England and Ireland, which gives a very new given name real depth behind it.
- Rare enough as a first name that she will likely be the only one in her class, without ever sounding invented.
To consider
- It is still overwhelmingly a surname, so expect a lifetime of forms filled in backwards and people asking for her first name after she has already given it.
- Collins is climbing steadily. It is uncommon now, but a child born today may meet a few more by high school than the current picture suggests.
- The final -s makes possessives and plurals fussy — Collins's book, the Collinses — a small lifelong grammatical shrug.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 Camille and Collins in full.
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Decide together
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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 Camille and Collins — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Camille or Collins — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Camille or Collins?
- Camille, in 2025: Camille ranked #240 with 1,299 babies; Collins ranked #241 with 1,286 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Camille or Collins?
- Collins. Over the last five years Camille moved up 25 places; Collins moved up 123 places.
- Which is the older name, Camille or Collins?
- Camille was already in use when US records began in 1880; Collins entered the US charts in 1982. On the American record, Camille is the older name.
- How many people are named Camille and Collins?
- About 66,500 people named Camille are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 10,500 people named Collins are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Camilles or Collinss in the classroom?
- Camille will almost certainly be the only one in school. Collins 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
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