Cole
Masculine · “charcoal”
Cole is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 154,093 boys against 553 girls since 1880. See Cole as a girl name
Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and he may also have been real. A ruler called Coel is remembered in the genealogies of the British kingdoms of the north, in the century after Rome left, and the nursery rhyme has been attached to him for a very long time. Whether the two are the same man cannot be shown, but the name is older than the rhyme by a wide margin.
How old is the name Cole?
Cole first appears in US birth records in 1886 — 139 years ago. The typical Cole alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 151,000 people named Cole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cole most popular?
Cole peaked in 2002, reaching #69 nationally. Today it ranks #182, 113 places below that high. See the whole 2002 chart.
Where it comes from
From Cola to Cole
The story of Cole
Cola was in use as a personal name in England before the Conquest and became one of the commonest sources of surnames in the country — Cole, Coles, Colson and Colman all come out of it. The surname moved to the front of the name in America in the nineteenth century and stayed quiet for a hundred years before rising sharply at the end of the twentieth, which is the usual pattern for a short, hard-edged English surname. It also charts in Scotland, which is unusual for an American revival and suggests the appeal is in the sound rather than in any particular bearer.
Meaningscholars disagree
charcoal; dark-haired
The English surname comes from the Old English byname Cola, built on col, the word for charcoal, and given to someone with dark hair or a dark complexion. There is a second and entirely separate road: Cole is also an old short form of Nicholas, by way of the medieval Coll. Most American Coles descend from the surname, but both are real.
Cultural footprint
Cole Porter (b. 1891) — Songwriting great of "Anything Goes"
Cole Sprouse (b. 1992) — Riverdale's Jughead
Cole Palmer (b. 2002) — England soccer's ice-cold star
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- Cola
- Cole
Related forms: Coleman · Coel
Pronouncing Cole
KOHL
One syllable, rhyming with goal. Nothing about the spelling causes anyone the slightest difficulty, in any English-speaking country.
Nicknames for Cole
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1886
- Most boys named
- 20035,898 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #69reached in 2002
- Change vs 2023
- −15.3%2,003 in 2025, from 2,364
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cole in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Coleman in English — related form
- Coel in Welsh — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, New York, Pennsylvania. International figures from National Records of Scotland. Sources
Coles among us
people named Cole are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 853 born in 2025 was named Cole
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Brett test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cole's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Brett climbed just as high around 1986, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Brett's path sketches the road Cole is walking now.
Cole is coming down from a big peak (#69 in 2002). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Cole is headed
Cole should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Cole beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cole in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and four letters — it fits any form and sits well before almost any surname.
- Nobody has ever had to spell it twice or hear it wrong.
- It is a genuine English name with a documented pre-Conquest history.
- There is nothing to shorten, which some families find restful.
- It has been very well used in the last twenty-five years, so a boy will meet others of his age.
- It is identical to a word for cabbage in several older English contexts, and to a common surname, so introductions carry a small pause.
- Nearly every child given this spelling is a boy; the record's girls are few enough that no form will expect one.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Cole
Masculine · #182 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Coles are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 151,000 people named Cole are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Cole in 2025?
- Cole ranks #182 among US boy names in 2025, with 2,003 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cole?
- About 1 in every 853 US boys born in 2025 was named Cole — 2,003 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cole with classmates?
- Cole will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cole
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ryker#182 · Tucker#181 · Jesse#184 · Max#180 · Emmanuel#179 · Amari#185 · Judah#178 · Aziel#186
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cole? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cole and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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