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Colin vs Colvin

American parents have registered 134,151 Colins since 1880, against 1,040 Colvins. Colin is still ahead, with 950 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Colin against Colvin, 1880 to 2025 0 1.5k 3k 4.5k 6k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Colin 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 136 years in which either name was published, Colin for 135 years and Colvin for 1 year. The lead changed hands 2 times.

Side by side

  Colin Colvin
Total US births 134,1511,040
Most in one year 5,14726
Babies in 2025 9505
Estimated living today 127,000690
Median age today 2422
Peak year 20042007
Best rank 85th boys3,893rd boys
Rank in 2025 343rd12,008th
First recorded 18801899
Girls / boys 445 / 133,7060 / 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 Colins 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: Colin and Colvin.