Collin
Masculine · “a young hound”
Collin is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 81,437 boys against 525 girls since 1880. See Collin as a girl 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 1895 — 130 years ago. The typical Collin alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 79,000 people named Collin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Collin most popular?
Collin peaked in 1996, reaching #115 nationally. Today it ranks #493, 378 places below that high. See the whole 1996 chart.
Collin appears on this list:
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
- 1895
- Most boys named
- 19963,358 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #115reached in 1996
- Change vs 2023
- −0.2%613 in 2025, from 614
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
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Collins among us
people named Collin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,786 born in 2025 was named Collin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Collin
- #493
- Collin on the 2025 chart
- #225
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Collin went to 613 boys in 2025, but Colin, Kollin and Kolin and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 1,628, which makes it the 225th most-given boys’ name of the year — 268 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 1,049 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 2,786 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 Allan 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: Allan climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Allan'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
Where Collin is headed
Collin 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.
Collin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Collin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys 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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Collin
Masculine · #493 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 79,000 people named Collin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Collin?
- Collin is one of 5 recorded spellings. Colin is the more common one — 950 births in 2025 against 613 for Collin.
- How popular is the name Collin in 2025?
- Collin ranks #493 among US boy names in 2025, with 613 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Collin?
- About 1 in every 2,786 US boys born in 2025 was named Collin — 613 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.
Leland#494 · Rodrigo#491 · Caspian#491 · Armani#495 · Donovan#495 · Arjun#490 · Sean#489 · Alessandro#497
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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