Colon
Masculine · “Dove”
Colon is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,318 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
Colon is the Spanish form of Columbus, and for a stretch of American history it was given to children as a first name rather than kept as a surname. It is also two ordinary English words, a punctuation mark and a length of intestine, which is the first thing an English-speaking reader thinks of and the last thing the name has to do with.
How old is the name Colon?
Colon first appears in US birth records in 1885 — 140 years ago. The typical Colon alive today was born around 1936, making them about 89 years old. About 500 people named Colon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Colon most popular?
Colon peaked in 1885, reaching #836 nationally. See the whole 1885 chart.
Where it comes from
From columba to Colon
The story of Colon
Columbus signed himself in three languages and settled on none. Genoese records call the family Colombo, he wrote as Colon once he was in Spain, and his personal signature was a private arrangement of letters that nobody has ever fully explained. The Spanish form traveled with the empire and became a place name all over the Americas. The largest of those places is the Caribbean end of the Panama railway, and it stayed in American newspapers for years: the French canal company began digging in 1881, and four years later the town was burned to the ground in a rebellion against Colombian rule, with United States sailors landed to hold the railway line. American families were reading the name in headlines for the better part of a decade, and a few of them gave it to their children.
Meaningscholars disagree
Dove
Cristobal Colon is what Spanish calls Christopher Columbus, and Colon is the Spanish shape of the Italian family name Colombo, usually read as Latin columba, a dove. Usually is the right word: his family's name and origins were argued about in his own lifetime and have been argued about ever since. The English word colon is unrelated, from Greek kolon, a limb or a clause, and the two only look alike because English drops the accent that Spanish writes.
How the name formed
- columba
- Colombo
- Colon
Related forms: Colon · Colombo · Colombo
Pronouncing Colon
koh-LOHN
Spanish stresses the second syllable and writes an accent on it, Colon with a mark over the o. Written without the accent in American records, as it almost always is, English readers say KOH-lun, which is the anatomical word rather than the name.
Nicknames for Colon
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
- 1885
- Most boys named
- 192230 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #836reached in 1885
- Change vs 1994
- 0.0%5 in 2000, 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.
Colon in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Colon in Spanish — same name
- Colombo in Italian — related form
- Colombo in Portuguese — related form
Colons among us
people named Colon 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
Colon 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
- It carries a real and enormous piece of history in five letters, with a documented Spanish and Italian line behind it.
- Cole is sitting inside it as a completely ordinary modern name if the full form ever becomes a burden.
- In Spanish-speaking settings it is read correctly and instantly, with none of the English trouble attached.
- In English the spelling is a common noun for a part of the body and a mark of punctuation, and a child will hear about both, repeatedly, from other children.
- American records strip the accent, and without it the Spanish pronunciation has nothing to hold on to.
- The record carries this spelling for girls as well as boys, so it does not signal a child's sex on a form.
- Columbus is now a contested figure in the United States, and a name that means him will be read as a position.
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Colon
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Colons 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 Colon are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Colon in 2025?
- Colon is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Colon with classmates?
- Colon 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 Colon? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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