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Colby vs Colvin

American parents have registered 58,155 Colbys since 1880, against 1,040 Colvins. Colby is still ahead, with 515 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Colby against Colvin, 1880 to 2025 0 1k 2k 3k 4k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Colby Colvin

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Of the 116 years in which either name was published, Colby for 91 years and Colvin for 25 years. The lead changed hands 8 times.

Side by side

  Colby Colvin
Total US births 58,1551,040
Most in one year 3,97926
Babies in 2025 5155
Estimated living today 56,000690
Median age today 2422
Peak year 20012007
Best rank 99th boys3,893rd boys
Rank in 2025 615th12,008th
First recorded 18881899
Girls / boys 4,184 / 53,9710 / 1,040

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Colbys alive today are over 24; half the Colvins are over 22. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Colby and Colvin.