Collins
Feminine
Collins is given to both — 10,779 girls and 3,686 boys since 1880. See Collins as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Collins comes to American girls the way Harper and Ellis did — off the family tree and onto the birth certificate. Behind it sit two much older lines: English families who were sons of a Colin, and Irish families named Ó Coileáin who anglicized their name to Collins. It sounds like what it is: two crisp syllables that land on the first, ending in that soft -inz.
How old is the name Collins?
Collins first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Collins is a kid of about 4 — this name's wave is very recent. About 10,500 people named Collins are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Collins most popular?
Collins peaked in 2023, reaching #239 nationally. Today it ranks #241, 2 places below that high. See the whole 2023 chart.
Where it comes from
From Nikolaos to Collins
The story of Collins
For most of its life Collins was a surname, and one of the most widespread in both England and Ireland — English bearers descended from a Colin, Irish bearers from the Ó Coileáin sept of County Limerick and West Cork, whose name was reshaped into English spelling under centuries of anglicization. It crossed the Atlantic in enormous numbers with Irish emigration in the nineteenth century, which is why it became an ordinary American surname long before it was anyone's first name. The move to a given name is recent and belongs to the broader American habit of promoting family surnames, especially for girls. In US records it is a girl's name, and its wave is young enough that nearly everyone carrying it is still a child.
Meaningscholars disagree
either "son of Colin" (ultimately Nicholas) or an anglicized Ó Coileáin, from Irish coileán, "young hound"
Two genuine roads reach the same spelling. In England, Collins is a patronymic from the medieval given name Colin, itself a pet form of Nicholas, from Greek Nikolaos, "victory of the people." In Ireland, Collins is the standard anglicization of Ó Coileáin, built on coileán, "whelp" or "young hound." Irish-American families overwhelmingly carry the second; both are well documented, and neither cancels the other.
How the name formed
- Nikolaos
- Nicholas
- Colin
- Collins
Related forms: Ó Coileáin · Colin · Collin · Coilín
Pronouncing Collins
KOL-inz
Stress on the first syllable, and the final -s is pronounced as a z. Two syllables everywhere in the English-speaking world; no competing pronunciation.
Nicknames for Collins
High
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
- 1982
- Most girls named
- 20251,286 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #239reached in 2023
- Change vs 2024
- +3.8%1,286 in 2025, from 1,239
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.
Collins in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Ó Coileáin in Irish — related form
- Colin in English — related form
- Collin in English — related form
- Coilín in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, North Carolina, Georgia.
Collinss among us
people named Collins are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 1,250 born in 2025 was named Collins
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Collins
- #241
- Collins on the 2025 chart
- #181
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Collins went to 1,286 girls in 2025, but Kollyns, Kollins and Collyns are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 1,814, which makes it the 181st most-given girls’ name of the year — 60 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 886 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,250 for Collins 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 Imani test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Collins's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Imani climbed just as high around 1996, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Imani's path sketches the road Collins is walking now.
Collins is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Collins is headed
Collins looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 22% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds.
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.
Collins beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Collins in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelling needs no explanation — Collins is already one of the most familiar surnames in English, so people write it correctly on the first try.
- A long unbroken record as a family name in both England and Ireland, which gives a very new given name real depth behind it.
- Rare enough as a first name that she will likely be the only one in her class, without ever sounding invented.
- Shortens naturally several ways — Collie, Cole, Lin — so there is room to grow into or out of.
- Works in both directions on a form: it reads equally well as a first name or a surname, which travels easily.
- It is still overwhelmingly a surname, so expect a lifetime of forms filled in backwards and people asking for her first name after she has already given it.
- Collins is climbing steadily. It is uncommon now, but a child born today may meet a few more by high school than the current picture suggests.
- The final -s makes possessives and plurals fussy — Collins's book, the Collinses — a small lifelong grammatical shrug.
- Readers of Jane Austen will think of the pompous clergyman Mr. Collins, and bartenders will think of a Tom Collins. Neither is heavy, but both come up.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Collins
Feminine · #241 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Collinss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 10,500 people named Collins are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Collins?
- Collins is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,286 of the 1,814 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kollyns, Kollins and Collyns.
- How popular is the name Collins in 2025?
- Collins ranks #241 among US girl names in 2025, with 1,286 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Collins?
- About 1 in every 1,250 US girls born in 2025 was named Collins — 1,286 in all.
- Will my child share the name Collins with classmates?
- Collins will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Collins
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Delaney#242 · Camille#240 · Brynlee#243 · Diana#244 · Cataleya#237 · Ana#245 · Alexandra#237 · Lucille#237
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Collins? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Collins and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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