Head to head · Boys' names
Kolton vs Mohammed
#594 vs #595 in 2025 · Old English vs Arabic roots
Kolton is a whisker ahead (#594 vs #595 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Kolton is stepping back from its peak, Mohammed is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Mohammed 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, Kolton leads 4 measures of 6; Mohammed leads 2.
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
- 1920s: Kolton —, Mohammed #4002 — Mohammed higher
- 1930s: Kolton —, Mohammed #2719 — Mohammed higher
- 1940s: Kolton —, Mohammed #3339 — Mohammed higher
- 1950s: Kolton —, Mohammed #3481 — Mohammed higher
- 1960s: Kolton —, Mohammed #2842 — Mohammed higher
- 1970s: Kolton —, Mohammed #1475 — Mohammed higher
- 1980s: Kolton #3834, Mohammed #771 — Mohammed higher
- 1990s: Kolton #736, Mohammed #600 — Mohammed higher
- 2000s: Kolton #584, Mohammed #602 — Kolton higher
- 2010s: Kolton #419, Mohammed #574 — Kolton higher
- 2020s: Kolton #517, Mohammed #644 — Kolton higher
Mohammed stood higher in 8 of 11 decades; Kolton has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Kolton | Mohammed |
|---|---|---|
| 1920s | — | #4002 |
| 1930s | — | #2719 |
| 1940s | — | #3339 |
| 1950s | — | #3481 |
| 1960s | — | #2842 |
| 1970s | — | #1475 |
| 1980s | #3834 | #771 |
| 1990s | #736 | #600 |
| 2000s | #584 | #602 |
| 2010s | #419 | #574 |
| 2020s | #517 | #644 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Kolton
Not charting outside the US.
Mohammed
- England & Wales#21
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Kolton
from the English place name Colton: either 'Cola's settlement' or 'coal town'
Both readings trace to Old English. The second element is agreed: tūn, a farmstead or settlement. The first is either the Old English byname Cola, or the word col, 'coal' or 'charcoal' — so a settlement belonging to a man called Cola, or one where charcoal was burned. Different Coltons on the English map probably got their names by different routes, which is why the question stays open.
Cola (Old English byname) → Colton (English place name) → Colton (surname) → Colton (given name) → Kolton
How it traveled
The name began as English geography. Several villages called Colton — the spelling shifts about in early records — gave their names to the families who came from them, in the ordinary medieval way, and Colton became a surname carried through the centuries in England and then in North America.
Mohammed
praised, praiseworthy
From the Arabic root ḥ-m-d, 'to praise'. The same root gives Ahmad, Mahmud and Hamid, which are separate names rather than variants of this one.
Muḥammad (Arabic) → Muhammad → Mohammed
How it traveled
The name is Arabic, and its history in the world begins with Muhammad ibn Abdullah, born in Mecca in the sixth century, the Prophet of Islam. After him the name traveled wherever Islam did — across North Africa, into Persia and Central Asia, through South and Southeast Asia, up into the Balkans and West Africa — and each language reshaped it a little: Mehmet in Turkish, Muhamed in Bosnian, Maxamed in Somali, Muhammadu in Hausa.
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
Kolton
KOHL-tun
Stress on the first syllable. The spelling gives the sound away immediately — the K makes no difference to how it is said, only to how it is written.
- Kolt — The most-used short form; also stands alone as a given name in its C-spelling, Colt.
- Kol — Informal, family-level shortening; usually spoken rather than written.
- K — Initial-only nickname common among school friends and teammates.
Mohammed
mo-HAM-med
Common American pronunciation. In Arabic it is closer to moo-HAM-mad, with the doubled m held slightly and a fuller vowel in the last syllable. Both are heard in the same family without anyone minding.
- Mo — The everyday short form in English-speaking countries; also used as a standalone name and a nickname for Moses, Maurice and Monica.
- Moe — The same short form with an American spelling, more common in older records.
- Momo — Informal, mostly family and childhood use; heard in French- and Arabic-speaking communities.
- Hamada — An Egyptian familiar form, used affectionately within family rather than in formal settings.
- Also Mido.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Kolton if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsKolton is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesKolton is 2 syllables to Mohammed's 3
Choose Mohammed if you want…
- a name on the way upup 46 places on the charts in five years
- a name with more sound in itMohammed runs 3 syllables, Kolton 2
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Mo, Moe and Momo
- a name that charts abroad tooMohammed is on the national lists of England & Wales
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
Kolton
Strengths
- Reads correctly on first sight: nobody has to guess how KOHL-tun is pronounced.
- Sits inside a well-established family of -ton surname names, so it sounds familiar even to people meeting it for the first time.
- Has a ready-made short form in Kolt, which is itself a name in independent use.
To consider
- The default spelling is Colton. A Kolton will spell his name aloud for most of his life — on forms, at coffee counters, over the phone. Some people take that in stride; it is worth knowing it comes with the K.
- Both the K-respelling and the -ton ending belong to a recognizable recent wave of American naming, so the name tends to signal roughly when its bearer was born.
- It is noticeably more common in some parts of the country than others, which means the experience of the name can differ a good deal between, say, Texas and New England.
Mohammed
Strengths
- Recognized on sight almost anywhere in the world — few names cross as many languages, alphabets and borders intact.
- Mo is an established short form with generations of use behind it, and it also stands alone.
- Fourteen centuries of continuous use, with no gap and no revival needed.
To consider
- Several English spellings compete: Muhammad, Mohamed, Mohammad, Muhammed. Whichever you choose, expect to spell it out at the doctor's office, and expect any single spelling's statistics to understate how common the name really is.
- It is the Prophet's name, and in Muslim families that carries real reverence — a consideration for religious and non-religious households alike. It is also a name that occasionally meets prejudice in the US, which is worth naming plainly rather than discovering later.
- Because it is given so widely in some communities, many boys go by a middle or second name day to day. That can be an advantage or an extra thing to explain, depending on the family.
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 Kolton and Mohammed 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 Kolton and Mohammed?
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists these names appear on
- Names far more common than their rank admits
- British invasion: UK favorites still rare in the US
- Eight-letter names with presence
- Names that begin and end with the same letter
- all guides
Where Kolton and Mohammed each sit in the library — alternatives in the same style, ranked by the same records.
Kolton or Mohammed — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Kolton or Mohammed?
- Kolton, in 2025: Kolton ranked #594 with 489 babies; Mohammed ranked #595 with 486 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Kolton or Mohammed?
- Mohammed. Over the last five years Kolton moved down 152 places; Mohammed moved up 46 places.
- Which is the older name, Kolton or Mohammed?
- Kolton entered the US charts in 1982; Mohammed entered the US charts in 1922. On the American record, Mohammed is the older name.
- How many people are named Kolton and Mohammed?
- About 17,000 people named Kolton are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 16,000 people named Mohammed are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Koltons or Mohammeds in the classroom?
- Kolton will almost certainly be the only one in school. Mohammed 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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