Collin
Feminine · “a young hound”
Collin is given to boys far more often — 81,437 boys against 525 girls since 1880. See Collin as a boy name
Colin arrives from two directions and the doubled l tells you which one. With one l it is the French diminutive of Nicholas, medieval and English. With two it is the Irish and Scottish surname, and behind that a Gaelic name meaning a young hound — the name of the chiefs of Clan Campbell, who are still styled the son of great Colin.
How old is the name Collin?
Collin first appears in US birth records in 1962 — 63 years ago. The typical Collin alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 500 people named Collin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Collin most popular?
Collin peaked in 1985, reaching #4455 nationally. Today it ranks #13208, 8,753 places below that high. See the whole 1985 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Cailean to Collin
The story of Collin
Cailean Mòr Caimbeul died in the thirteenth century and gave the Campbell chiefs their Gaelic title, which is why the name is bound so tightly to that clan. Separately, English shepherds in Elizabethan poetry are constantly called Colin, from the French diminutive — the two Colins were already being confused four hundred years ago. Collin with two l's is the surname spelling, and it moved to the front of the name in twentieth-century America, rising sharply in the 1990s. It is one of the few names where the doubled letter marks a different origin rather than a decorative choice.
Meaningscholars disagree
a young hound, or little Nicholas
Two unrelated lines meet here. The Gaelic Cailean means a whelp or young dog, which was a compliment in a hunting culture rather than an insult. The English Colin is Col, an old short form of Nicholas, with the French diminutive ending -in. Both were in use in Britain by the Middle Ages, and the spelling with two l's usually points to the Gaelic surname.
How the name formed
- Cailean
- Colin
- Collin
Related forms: Cailean · Coilín · Colin
Pronouncing Collin
KAH-lin
Two syllables, stress on the first. Britain says it that way too, though British Colins with one l often take a longer first vowel — KOH-lin — which is a real transatlantic difference and a source of small confusion.
Nicknames for Collin
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
- 1962
- Most girls named
- 198517 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4455reached in 1985
- Change vs 2024
- −25.0%6 in 2025, from 8
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.
Collin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cailean in Scottish Gaelic — same name
- Coilín in Irish — related form
- Colin in French — related form
Collins among us
people named Collin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 267,878 born in 2025 was named Collin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Collin
- #13208
- Collin on the 2025 chart
- #936
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Collin went to 6 girls in 2025, but Kollyn is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 24, which makes it the 936th most-given girls’ name of the year — 12,272 places above the chart.
- Kollyn18
- Collin6
About 1 girl in 66,969 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 267,878 for Collin itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Silvie test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Collin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Silvie climbed just as high around 1921, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Silvie's path sketches the road Collin is walking now.
Collin sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Collin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Collin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Both possible origins are respectable and old, so there is something real to tell either way.
- It is entirely familiar to every English speaker and needs no explanation.
- Six letters, two syllables, and no difficulty of spelling or saying.
- It works for a child of either sex in the record, though nearly all are boys.
- Colin with one l is the older and internationally commoner spelling, and mail will use both.
- British and American speakers give the first vowel different lengths, which travelers notice.
- It was very well used in the 1990s, so a man of that age will have met several.
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What they receive
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Collin
Feminine · #13208 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Collins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Collin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Collin?
- Collin is one of 2 recorded spellings. Kollyn is the more common one — 18 births in 2025 against 6 for Collin.
- How popular is the name Collin in 2025?
- Collin ranks #13208 among US girl names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Collin?
- About 1 in every 267,878 US girls born in 2025 was named Collin — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Collin with classmates?
- Collin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Collin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
John#13208 · Vinnie#13208 · Margery#13208 · Tressa#13208 · Erie#13208 · Bernadine#13208 · Euna#13208 · Jack#13208
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Collin? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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