Colt
Masculine · “Young horse”
Colt is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 27,869 boys against 11 girls since 1880.
Colt is one of the plainest words in English pressed into service as a name: a young horse, the same word Old English speakers used a thousand years ago. It arrives in one syllable, ends on a hard T, and takes no explaining at the door — most people can spell it after hearing it once.
How old is the name Colt?
Colt first appears in US birth records in 1957 — 68 years ago. The typical Colt is a kid of about 9 — this name's wave is very recent. About 27,500 people named Colt are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Colt most popular?
Colt peaked in 2019, reaching #210 nationally. Today it ranks #285, 75 places below that high. See the whole 2019 chart.
Where it comes from
From Old English colt to Colt
The story of Colt
The word colt is Old English and has kept its shape for more than a millennium, which is unusual; most words that old have been worn down or replaced. It became an English surname in the medieval period, carried by families identified with horses or by a nickname for a young man, and Samuel Colt made that surname a household word in nineteenth-century America. Its life as a first name is far more recent and thoroughly American, arriving with the vocabulary of ranches and Westerns rather than through any family line. Colt also functions as the everyday short form of Colton, a separate name from English place names, so some boys reach the same four letters by a different road.
Meaning
Young horse
From Old English colt, which in the earliest records covered young donkeys and camels as well before narrowing to a young male horse.
How the name formed
- Old English colt
- ColtEnglish surname
- ColtAmerican given name
Pronouncing Colt
KOHLT
One syllable, rhyming with bolt. There is no second pronunciation to correct.
Nicknames for Colt
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
- 1957
- Most boys named
- 20211,736 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #210reached in 2019
- Change vs 2024
- −3.2%1,188 in 2025, from 1,227
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.
Colt in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Ohio.
Colts among us
people named Colt are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,438 born in 2025 was named Colt
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Colt
- #285
- Colt on the 2025 chart
- #263
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Colt went to 1,188 boys in 2025, but Kolt is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 1,317, which makes it the 263rd most-given boys’ name of the year — 22 places above the chart.
- Colt1,188
- Kolt129
About 1 boy in 1,297 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 1,438 for Colt 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 Scotty test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Colt's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Scotty climbed just as high around 1971, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Scotty's path sketches the road Colt is walking now.
Colt 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 Colt is headed
Colt should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Colt beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Colt in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, spelled exactly as it sounds — very little chance of it being misspelled or mispronounced anywhere in the English-speaking world.
- An ordinary English word with a continuous written record going back to Old English, so it is instantly recognizable even to people who have never met the name.
- Works cleanly with longer surnames and pairs naturally with two- or three-syllable middle names.
- Doubles as the established short form of Colton, so the two names sit comfortably in the same family.
- Colt Firearms and Samuel Colt are the strongest associations the surname carries in America. For some families that is neutral or even appealing; for others it is the first thing they hear, and it is worth knowing before you decide.
- This is a young name. Its wave is recent enough that nearly everyone carrying it is still a child, so there are no grown Colts to picture — which cuts both ways.
- The Western and country register is real: the word belongs to horses, ranches and rodeo, and the name is most at home in that world. It travels fine outside it, just with a little more explaining.
- A single hard syllable is punchy but can sound clipped beside a short surname; saying the full name aloud a few times settles the question quickly.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Colt
Masculine · #285 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Colts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 27,500 people named Colt are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Colt?
- Colt is the most-used spelling in US records — 1,188 of the 1,317 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Kolt.
- How popular is the name Colt in 2025?
- Colt ranks #285 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,188 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Colt?
- About 1 in every 1,438 US boys born in 2025 was named Colt — 1,188 in all.
- Will my child share the name Colt with classmates?
- Colt will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Colt
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kash#286 · Derek#284 · Tobias#283 · Cash#287 · Jensen#282 · Lukas#288 · Lennox#289 · Atticus#281
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Colt? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Colt and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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