Head to head · Girls' names
Collins vs Delaney
#241 vs #242 in 2025
Collins is a whisker ahead (#241 vs #242 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Collins is climbing the charts fast, Delaney is back after a long quiet spell.
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
The tape is even: Collins and Delaney each lead 3 measures of 6.
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
- 1930s: Collins —, Delaney #4250 — Delaney higher
- 1950s: Collins —, Delaney #5346 — Delaney higher
- 1960s: Collins —, Delaney #6225 — Delaney higher
- 1970s: Collins —, Delaney #3815 — Delaney higher
- 1980s: Collins #9546, Delaney #3250 — Delaney higher
- 1990s: Collins —, Delaney #496 — Delaney higher
- 2000s: Collins #14404, Delaney #197 — Delaney higher
- 2010s: Collins #879, Delaney #251 — Delaney higher
- 2020s: Collins #280, Delaney #253 — Delaney higher
Delaney stood higher in every recorded decade — 9 of 9.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Collins | Delaney |
|---|---|---|
| 1930s | — | #4250 |
| 1950s | — | #5346 |
| 1960s | — | #6225 |
| 1970s | — | #3815 |
| 1980s | #9546 | #3250 |
| 1990s | — | #496 |
| 2000s | #14404 | #197 |
| 2010s | #879 | #251 |
| 2020s | #280 | #253 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Delaney
Either "descendant of Dubhshláine" (Irish: dubh, dark or black, plus Sláine) or "of the alder grove" (Norman French)
Two serious lines meet at this spelling. The Gaelic surname Ó Dubhshláine breaks into dubh, "black" or "dark", and Sláine — read either as a personal name or as the River Slaney. Separately, Anglo-Norman families in Ireland bore de l'Aunaie, "from the alder grove", which anglicized to Delaney and Delany too. Both are well attested; genealogists do not agree on which family carried which.
Dubhshláine → Ó Dubhshláine → Delany → Delaney
How it traveled
The name belongs first to Ireland, where Ó Dubhshláine was a sept of the midlands, concentrated around the borders of Laois and Kilkenny. Norman settlers who arrived after the twelfth century brought the separate name de l'Aunaie, and over centuries of anglicization the two collapsed into the same handful of spellings — Delany, Delaney, Delahunty nearby.
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
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.
Delaney
duh-LAY-nee
Stress on the middle syllable. Spelling and sound line up cleanly in English, so it rarely needs repeating — though the first syllable is often flattened to DEL-a-nee in casual speech.
- Laney — The most common short form, and a given name in its own right on US records.
- Del — Informal and clipped; used across ages and genders.
- Dee — Informal, initial-based, easy for young children to say.
- Lane — Informal; also stands alone as a given name for boys and girls.
- Also Della.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Collins if you want…
- a name on the way upup 123 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesCollins is 2 syllables to Delaney's 3
- a name that feels very nowCollins is climbing the charts fast
Choose Delaney if you want…
- a name with more sound in itDelaney runs 3 syllables, Collins 2
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 30% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 53% for Collins
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
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.
Delaney
Strengths
- Spelling and pronunciation match, so most English speakers get it right on the first reading and the first hearing.
- Comes with ready-made short forms — Laney, Del, Dee — none of which need inventing.
- A documented surname for many centuries in Ireland, which gives it a long record behind a modern-sounding first name.
To consider
- It still reads as a surname to many people, so expect it to be occasionally taken as a last name on forms, rosters and introductions.
- Delaney and Delany both have real history, which means the second E gets dropped and re-added by other people for life.
- In the United States it is now given almost entirely to girls, though the underlying surname carries no gender at all — worth knowing if you were considering it for a son.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Collins
53%chance Collins feels dated by 2040
Collins is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
Delaney
30%chance Delaney feels dated by 2040
Delaney is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
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 Collins and Delaney 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 Collins and Delaney?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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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 Collins and Delaney — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Collins or Delaney — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Collins or Delaney?
- Collins, in 2025: Collins ranked #241 with 1,286 babies; Delaney ranked #242 with 1,283 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Collins or Delaney?
- Collins. Over the last five years Collins moved up 123 places; Delaney moved up 71 places.
- Which is the older name, Collins or Delaney?
- Collins entered the US charts in 1982; Delaney entered the US charts in 1939. On the American record, Delaney is the older name.
- How many people are named Collins and Delaney?
- About 10,500 people named Collins are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 45,000 people named Delaney are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Collinss or Delaneys in the classroom?
- Collins will almost certainly be the only one in school. Delaney will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Collins, Delaney and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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