How popular is the baby name Colin in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Colin.

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Popularity of the baby name Colin


Posts that mention the name Colin

How did Colin Kelly influence baby names in 1942?

USAAF pilot Colin P. Kelly, Jr. (1915-1941)
Colin P. Kelly

On December 8, 1941, the Empire of Japan began its attack on the U.S. territory of the Philippines.

General Douglas MacArthur was aware that Pearl Harbor had been attacked hours earlier but, despite this, U.S. forces in the Philippines were not prepared. The Japanese ended up destroying most of the B-17s and pursuit planes at Clark Field, the U.S. Army Air Base on Luzon.

One of the U.S. pilots stationed in the Philippines at that time was Captain Colin P. Kelly, Jr. (whose first name was pronounced KOH-lin).

Two days after the attack, in one of the few remaining B-17s, Kelly and his crew of seven men took off from Clark Field in search of enemy warships.

Kelly spotted a Japanese ship off the north coast of the island and dropped three bombs in that location. (Though it was widely reported that he’d destroyed a battleship, in truth he damaged a cruiser.)

While attempting to return to Clark Field, Kelly’s plane was chased by Japanese Zeroes that, “in repeated firing runs, raked the aircraft with machine gun and cannon fire.” One crew member was killed instantly, and the B-17 was set ablaze.

Kelly ordered the surviving men to bail out while he stayed at the controls and struggled to keep the bomber level. Soon after, the plane exploded in mid-air.

Colin Kelly poster

At a time when nearly all war news was bleak, the story of Colin Kelly’s bravery and sacrifice “profoundly affected the American public.”

His name remained in the news for months. It also started popping up elsewhere: on posters, on trading cards, even in song [vid].

As a result, the usage of the baby name Colin more than quadrupled in 1942:

Boys named ColinBoys named Kelly
1944237 [rank: 394th]275 [rank: 363rd]
1943320 [rank: 345th]275 [rank: 369th]
1942349 [rank: 323rd]249 [rank: 385th]
194175 [rank: 713th]160 [rank: 470th]
194058 [rank: 822nd]142 [rank: 485th]

The usage of variant spellings like Collin and Colon also increased that year, as did the male usage of the name Kelly.

Records reveal that dozens of the babies named Colin in the early 1940s also got the middle name Kelly. For example, a boy born in Vermont in mid-1942 was named Colin Kelly Ducolon.

One of Colin Kelly’s later namesakes was his own nephew, Colin Kelly Howerton, born to his sister (Emmala) in 1948.

And at least one pre-existing Colin — former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (b. 1937) — changed the pronunciation of his name from KAH-lin to KOH-lin in honor of Kelly.

What are your thoughts on the name Colin? (Which pronunciation do you prefer?)

Sources:

Images:

Popular baby names in Liechtenstein, 2024

Flag of Liechtenstein
Flag of Liechtenstein

Last year, the tiny European country of Liechtenstein welcomed 341 babies — 166 girls and 175 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Sophia for girls and Leon and Noah/Noa (tie) for boys.

Here are Liechtenstein’s top girl names and top boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Sophia, 5 baby girls
  2. Leyla and Livia, 4 each (tie)
  3. Alina, Chiara, Leonie, Lia, and Paula, 3 each (5-way tie)
  4. Ajla/Ayla, Amelie, Elisa, Emilia, Fiona, Freya, Hanna/Hannah, Ida, Ilenia, Laura, Lina, Lou, Luisa, Maya, Melina, Nelia, Noelia, Nora, Olivia, Romina, Timea, and Valea, 2 each (22-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Leon and Noah/Noa, 5 baby boys each (tie)
  2. Elias, Julian, Laurin, Leano, Levi, Linus, Lio, Lionel, Luca, Matteo/Matheo, Theo, and Valentin, 3 each (12-way tie)
  3. Alexander, Ben, Elia, Emil, Gino, Jonas, Kian, Lenny, Leyan, Lorenzo, Marlo, Nelio, Noe, Noel, and Vincent, 2 each (15-way tie)

The rest of the names were bestowed just once:

Unique girl names (94)Unique boy names (99)
Adriana, Alba, Alessia, Amara, Amaya, Amberly, Amelia, Amina, Amra, Anna, Asel, Asena, Aurelia, Aylin, Belinda, Carla, Celia, Charlotte, Chloé, Delia, Eflin, Elena, Elenor, Elina, Elisabeth, Ella, Elsa, Emily, Emma, Flavia, Frieda, Gabriella, Giada, Hale, Ivie, Jana, Julia, Juna, Kalea, Kate, Katharina, Klara, Kori, Lania, Larissa, Lea, Letizia, Lillian, Linn, Liuna, Liv, Lola, Lorine, Lua, Luna, Malea, Malia, Mara, Maria, Marie, Martina, Mayla, Melissa, Mia, Michaela, Mila, Milena, Morena, Naira, Nayla, Neea, Nilya, Noemi, Nuray, Peyang, Rital, Rosa, Ruby, Run, Samara, Sienna, Sophie, Sumaya, Sunniva, Thalia, Valentina, Valeria, Valérie, Viktoria, Viola, Vivienne, Yara, Yasmin, YunaAdni, Afonso, Albert, Amelio, Andrin, Anis, Anton, Aran, Aras, Arel, Aren, Arian, Arno, Arthur, Aurelio, Benjamin, Bernardo, Bryan, Charles, Ciro, Colin, Constantin, Daadir, Dani, Danial, David, Demir, Dijar, Ege, Eli, Elouan, Enzo, Erik, Erin, Fabian, Finn, Florian, Gabriel, Hayden, Henrik, Ilario, Ilyas, Jack, Jakob, Jayden, Johann, Jonathan, Jordan, Kenny, Konstantin, Leo, Leonardo, Leonidas, Leron, Levin, Levio, Liam, Lineo, Lino, Lou, Luan, Luciano, Mads, Magnus, Mailo, Maksim, Marco, Matej, Mats, Mattia, Matvii, Max, Maximilian, Miko, Naél, Near, Nevio, Nico, Nicolas, Paolo, Paul, Poyraz, Qingyang, Quentin, Raphael, Rayan, Rodrigo, Rui, Salvador, Samuel, Simon, Tino, Tobias, Valerio, Yaro, Yaroslav, Yuri, Yusuf, Zeyd

I didn’t post about Liechtenstein’s top baby names of 2023 or 2022, but here are Liechtenstein’s 2021 rankings.

Source: Neugeborenennamen – Liechtensteinische Landesverwaltung Statistikportal

Image: Adapted from Flag of Liechtenstein (public domain)

Free game of bowling for people named Colin

bowling

Is your name Colin? Do you live in (or near) Glasgow, Scotland?

If so, you can register for a free game of bowling at King Pins Bowling, opening June 26 at the company’s first Scottish location, Silverburn Shopping Centre.

Here’s more:

On its opening day in June, King Pin Colin, the venue’s friendly mascot, will be in attendance.

To celebrate King Pin Colin’s arrival and the Scottish Gaelic roots of his name, King Pins is giving away a free game of bowling to anyone named Colin who pre-books before the opening date.

For any Colins looking to land their free game of bowling, they should email KingPinColin@kingpins.co.uk, saying: “Hi, my name is Colin”.

The company’s mascot, King Pin Colin, is simply a big yellow bowling pin with a black crown. (He has a name but not a face, curiously.)

Source: Waddell, Ben. “King Pins revealed opening date for Glasgow Silverburn venue.” Glasgow Times 19 May 2025.

Image: Adapted from Bowling with red ball (public domain)

Where did the baby name Condoleezza come from in 2005?

American political scientist Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza Rice

The curious name Condoleezza was a one-hit wonder in the U.S. baby name data in 2005:

  • 2007: unlisted
  • 2006: unlisted
  • 2005: 5 baby girls named Condoleezza [debut]
  • 2004: unlisted
  • 2003: unlisted

Where did it come from?

Condoleezza (pronounced kon-dah-LEE-zah) Rice, who, in January of 2005, was sworn in as U.S. Secretary of State under George W. Bush. She was the first African-American woman to hold the position.

(The two previous office-holders, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell, were the first woman and the first African-American secretaries of state, respectively.)

Condoleezza “Condi” Rice was born in segregated Birmingham, Alabama, in 1954. How did she come to have her unusual first name? Here’s how she told the story in her 2012 memoir:

[Mother] wanted a name that would be unique and musical. Looking to Italian musical terms for inspiration, she at first settled on Andantino. But realizing that it translated as “moving slowly,” she decided that she didn’t like the implications for that name. Allegro was worse because it translated as “fast,” and no mother in 1954 wanted her daughter to be thought of as “fast.” Finally she found the musical terms con dolce and con dolcezza, meaning “with sweetness.” Deciding that an English speaker would never recognize the hard c, saying “dolci” instead of “dolche,” my mother doctored the term. She settled on Condoleezza.

Just last month, Condoleezza Rice mentioned in a tweet that she’d met one of her namesakes, Duke University student Condoleezza Dorvil:

What are your thoughts on the name Condoleezza?

P.S. When Condoleezza Rice was a student at the University of Denver during the 1970s, her mentor was professor Josef Korbel — a Czech-American political scientist who just so happened to be the father of Madeleine Albright (who was born in Prague in 1937).

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Condoleezza Rice (public domain)