Kolleen
Feminine
Colleen Moore cut her hair. She was the first American film star to wear the bob on screen, the fashion followed within a season, and a novelist of the period wrote that the whole flapper thing had been invented by one actress with a pair of scissors — which was not quite true and was not far off either.
How old is the name Kolleen?
Kolleen first appears in US birth records in 1946 — 79 years ago. The typical Kolleen alive today was born around 1968, making them about 57 years old. About 900 people named Kolleen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kolleen most popular?
Kolleen peaked in 1962, reaching #1627 nationally. See the whole 1962 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From an Irish word meaning a girl to Kolleen
The story of Kolleen
She was one of the biggest stars of the silent era and is now much less remembered than her contemporaries, partly because most of her films are lost. What survives is the doll's house: a nine-foot fairy castle she had built in the 1930s with electric lighting, running water, a chandelier hung with real diamonds and a library of books written by hand by their authors. She toured it to raise money for children's charities during the Depression and then gave it to a museum in Chicago, where it is still one of the most visited things in the building.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name is the Irish word for a girl, taken as a name by Irish Americans and never used that way in Ireland, where calling a child Girl would be as odd as it sounds. This spelling puts a k at the front, which Irish does not use at all, so the result is an Irish common noun spelled with a letter the Irish alphabet does not contain, given as a name in a country neither of them is in.
How the name formed
- an Irish word meaning a girl
- Irish Americans take it as a name
- a silent film star makes it fashionable
- American spellings add a k
- Kolleen appears in the record in the 1940s
Related forms: cailin · Colleen
Pronouncing Kolleen
kah-LEEN
Two syllables with the stress at the back. Some American families front it, KOL-een, which the Irish word does not support and which is common all the same.
Nicknames for Kolleen
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
- 1946
- Most girls named
- 196248 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1627reached in 1962
- Change vs 2007
- −28.6%5 in 2011, from 7
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.
Kolleen in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- cailin in Irish — related form
- Colleen in English — spelling variant
Kolleens among us
people named Kolleen 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
Kolleen 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
- The sound is entirely familiar throughout the English-speaking world.
- It marks an Irish American family history clearly and warmly.
- It is read correctly at sight once the stress is settled.
- Colleen is far commoner and the k will be corrected everywhere.
- In Ireland the word is not a name and the usage is regarded as an American thing.
- It is closely dated to the middle of the last century.
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Kolleen
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Kolleens are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 900 people named Kolleen are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kolleen in 2025?
- Kolleen is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Kolleen with classmates?
- Kolleen will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Karen#1279 · Kimberly#302 · Kathleen#1150 · Katherine#186 · Kelly#851 · Kathryn#729 · Kayla#364 · Kathy#3249
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kolleen? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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