Colin

Where Colin comes from

(given name): * Coll + -in. Diminutive of Coll, a medieval short form of Nicholas. * It has also been used to anglicize Irish Coileán and Scottish Gaelic Cailean.
— Wiktionary's entry for Colin
  • Old Irish
  • Irish
  • Scottish Gaelic
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #809 among boys — 6 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1937
    Colin Powell born
    American general and diplomat
  3. 1960
    Colin Firth born
    English actor and producer
  4. 2004
    Peak, #85
    5,122 babies named Colin — more than any year before or since.
  5. 2015
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #172.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name
  • A diminutive of the male given name Nicholas, from Ancient Greek.
  • A male given name from Old Irish
  • A male given name from Irish
  • A male given name from Scottish Gaelic
Namesakes
  • Colin Powell · American general and diplomat, 1937–2021
  • Colin Firth · English actor and producer, born 1960
  • Colin Farrell · Irish actor, born 1976
  • Colin MacLaurin · Scottish mathematician, 1698–1746
  • Colin Morgan · Northern Irish actor, born 1986

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.