Kolt
Masculine · Old English roots · “Young horse”
Kolt is the English word for a young horse, respelled with a K and handed to a person. One syllable, it lands in the mouth all at once — a hard start, a long O, a clean stop — which is why it works as a called-across-a-yard name. It arrived in American use alongside Colt, Colton and Kolton, part of a long-standing habit of turning plain western vocabulary into given names.
How old is the name Kolt?
Kolt first appears in US birth records in 1982 — 43 years ago. The typical Kolt is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,000 people named Kolt are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kolt most popular?
Kolt peaked in 2020, reaching #1023 nationally. Today it ranks #1409, 386 places below that high. See the whole 2020 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From colt (Old English) to Kolt
The story of Kolt
Behind the name sits an ordinary English noun: colt, attested in Old English long before it was ever a first name. It became a surname in England — a byname for someone who kept or resembled a young horse — and surnames of that kind crossed to America and later drifted into first-name use, which is how Colt joined Wade, Rowdy and Cash in the American vocabulary of names. Kolt is the K-spelled version of that name, and it also reads as a clipped form of Kolton and Colton, both of which have been in steady American use. Its record is recent rather than deep: this is a name with an American life, not a European pedigree.
Meaning
Young horse
The underlying word is Old English colt, used for a young horse and, earlier, for the young of other animals. Kolt is a modern K-spelling of Colt; the meaning travels unchanged.
How the name formed
- coltOld English
- Colt
- Kolt
Related forms: Colt · Kolton · Colton
Pronouncing Kolt
KOHLT
One syllable, rhyming with bolt. No regional variation to speak of, and no silent letters to explain.
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 boys named
- 2022214 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1023reached in 2020
- Change vs 2024
- −17.8%129 in 2025, from 157
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.
Kolt in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Colt in English — spelling variant
- Kolton in English — related form
- Colton in English — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Missouri, Ohio.
Kolts among us
people named Kolt are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 13,241 born in 2025 was named Kolt
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kolt
- #1409
- Kolt on the 2025 chart
- #263
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kolt went to 129 boys in 2025, but Colt 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 — 1,146 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 13,241 for Kolt 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 Keir test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kolt's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Keir climbed just as high around 1970, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Keir's path sketches the road Kolt is walking now.
Kolt 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 Kolt is headed
Kolt 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.
Kolt beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kolt in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and phonetic — anyone who hears it can say it, and anyone who reads it says it correctly the first time.
- Sits naturally beside the well-established Colton and Kolton, so it can serve as a full name or as the short form of a longer one.
- The word behind it is plain English, so the meaning needs no explaining at a family gathering.
- Strongest in Texas, Missouri and Ohio, giving it a settled regional footing rather than a purely invented feel.
- The C spelling is the older and better-known one, so expect a lifetime of "Kolt with a K" on forms and phone calls. Not hard to say — just never assumed.
- Colt carries a firearms association in the United States through the revolver brand and the malt liquor of the same name. It rarely dominates, but it is there for adults who notice it.
- This name's record is recent, so there is little of the older-generation presence that makes some names feel inherited. It will read as contemporary, which may be exactly the point.
- A child named Kolt will very likely be the only one in any given school — a quiet advantage, and occasionally a small nuisance when nobody catches it on first hearing.
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What they receive
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Kolt
Masculine · Old English roots · #1409 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kolts are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,000 people named Kolt are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kolt?
- Kolt is one of 2 recorded spellings. Colt is the more common one — 1,188 births in 2025 against 129 for Kolt.
- How popular is the name Kolt in 2025?
- Kolt ranks #1409 among US boy names in 2025, with 129 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kolt?
- About 1 in every 13,241 US boys born in 2025 was named Kolt — 129 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kolt with classmates?
- Kolt will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kolt
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Dale#1409 · Malikai#1409 · Virgil#1409 · Linden#1409 · Iverson#1409 · Fox#1409 · Huxton#1409 · Cayde#1409
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kolt? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kolt and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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