Collene
Feminine
The Colleen Bawn was a real girl. A fifteen-year-old called Ellen Hanley was murdered in Limerick in 1819 by the man she had married; the case became a ballad, then a novel, then the most successful melodrama on the Victorian stage — and the Irish phrase in its title, the fair-haired girl, is where a great many English speakers first met the word.
How old is the name Collene?
Collene first appears in US birth records in 1922 — 103 years ago. The typical Collene alive today was born around 1959, making them about 66 years old. About 800 people named Collene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Collene most popular?
Collene peaked in 1938, reaching #1547 nationally. See the whole 1938 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From an Irish word meaning a girl to Collene
The story of Collene
The play ran for decades on both sides of the Atlantic and was adapted into an opera and later into films. It softened the story considerably — the real husband and his servant were hanged, and the body had been in the Shannon for six weeks — but it fixed the phrase in English, and by the end of the century the word was being used by American families as a name for their daughters. In Ireland it never was. The word means girl; naming a girl Girl is not something anybody there has ever felt the need to do.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The word is Irish for a girl and is not a name in Ireland. It became one among Irish Americans, and this spelling writes the ending with a single e where the standard has two. The Irish original has a fada over the final vowel that no English spelling of it preserves, so every version in the record is an approximation.
How the name formed
- an Irish word meaning a girl
- a murder in Limerick becomes a ballad and then a play
- the phrase enters English through the Victorian stage
- Irish Americans take the word as a name
- Collene appears in the record in the 1920s
Related forms: cailin · Colleen · Coleen
Pronouncing Collene
kah-LEEN
Two syllables with the stress at the back. Some American families front it, COL-een, which the Irish word does not support and which is common anyway.
Nicknames for Collene
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
- 1922
- Most girls named
- 195626 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1547reached in 1938
- Change vs 1996
- −14.3%6 in 2003, from 7
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.
Collene in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- cailin in Irish — related form
- Colleen in English — spelling variant
- Coleen in English — spelling variant
Collenes among us
people named Collene are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Collene sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The sound is entirely familiar throughout the English-speaking world.
- It marks an Irish American family history warmly and clearly.
- It is read correctly at sight once the stress is settled.
- Colleen is far commoner and this spelling will be corrected everywhere.
- In Ireland the word is not a name and the usage is thought of as American.
- It is closely dated to the middle of the last century.
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Collene
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Collenes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Collene are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Collene in 2025?
- Collene is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Collene with classmates?
- Collene will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Carol#2239 · Cynthia#1013 · Catherine#313 · Christine#1272 · Carolyn#1222 · Christina#770 · Charlotte#2 · Cheryl#4352
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Collene? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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