Collis
Masculine · “Son of Coll”
Collis is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,309 boys against 10 girls since 1880.
Collis is an English surname that spent one generation as a first name, and it can be read straight: it is Coll's son. Coll was the everyday English form of Nicholas for four hundred years, the way Bill is the everyday form of William, and it left more surnames behind it than the full name ever did.
How old is the name Collis?
Collis first appears in US birth records in 1894 — 131 years ago. The typical Collis alive today was born around 1945, making them about 80 years old. About 600 people named Collis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Collis most popular?
Collis peaked in 1900, reaching #836 nationally. See the whole 1900 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Nicholas to Collis
The story of Collis
Surnames became first names in America on a scale that England never matched, and the ones that traveled furthest usually had a public man attached. Collis Potter Huntington was one of the four merchants who financed the western half of the first railroad across the continent, and then built a second one; he ran a shipyard, gave his name to towns in three states, and was one of the most written-about businessmen in the country until he died at the turn of the century. The name entered American records during the years he was hardest to avoid reading about. It has been given to daughters as well as sons, which is what happens to a surname used as a given name: nothing in it says which.
Meaning
Son of Coll
Coll and Colle were medieval English pet forms of Nicholas, and they generated a small family of surnames: Collis, Collins, Coles, Collett, and the given name Colin, which is Coll with a French diminutive on the end. The s at the end of Collis is a possessive that lost its mark, the same s in Williams, Jones and Roberts. So the name says son of a man called Nick, and does not say it about anybody in particular any more.
How the name formed
- Nicholas
- Coll
- Collis
Pronouncing Collis
KOL-iss
Two syllables with the stress at the front and a short o. The final s is unvoiced, as in miss rather than as in his, which distinguishes it from Collies and from Colless.
Nicknames for Collis
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
- 1894
- Most boys named
- 192427 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #836reached in 1900
- Change vs 2014
- 0.0%5 in 2022, from 5
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.
Colliss among us
people named Collis 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
Collis 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
- Short, blunt and easy to spell, with a documented meaning that can be given in three words.
- Coll and Cole are both waiting inside it, and Cole is entirely current.
- It works for a child of either sex, since a surname carries no sex of its own.
- The record holds this spelling for girls as well as boys, so forms and rosters will guess.
- It reads as a surname to almost everyone, and will be entered in the wrong column more than once.
- The name is closely tied to one period of American history and sounds like a great-grandfather rather than a child.
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What they receive
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Collis
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Colliss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Collis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Collis in 2025?
- Collis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Collis with classmates?
- Collis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More C names
The most-given names starting with C, all years combined.
Charles#48 · Christopher#68 · Carl#1132 · Christian#96 · Caleb#58 · Cameron#76 · Carlos#150 · Clarence#1499
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Collis? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Collis and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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