| Pronunciation | /ˈkɒlɪn, ˈkoʊlɪn/ KOL-in, KOH-lin[1] |
|---|---|
| Gender | masculine |
| Origin | |
| Meaning | (1) short for Nicolas; (2) Old Irish cuilen "pup, cub". |
Colin is an English-language masculine given name. It has two distinct origins:[2]
- A diminutive form of "Colle", itself an Old French short form of the name Nicolas (Nicholas). This name, but not the anglicized Gaelic name, is also found in the spelling Collin. This name is formed by the Old French diminutive -in also found in Robin.
- An anglicisation of the Irish given name Coileán or the Scottish Gaelic name Cailean, which both come from the Old Irish word cuilén "pup, cub".[3] The Scottish Gaelic name is recorded in the spelling Colin from as early as the 14th century.[4] MacCailean was a patronymic used by Clan Campbell, after Cailean Mór (died 1296).
As a surname, Colin can be derived from the given name, but can also be of unrelated (French) origin. The Irish patronymic Ó Coileáin gave rise to the surname Cullen (which is also the anglicization of the unrelated patronymic Ó Cuilinn).
In England and Wales, Colin was one of the Top 100 most commonly given male names for most of the 20th century but declined greatly at the end of the century and since. It rose steadily from 96th in 1904 to 82nd in 1914, 61st in 1924, 26th in 1934 and 15th in 1944. It then declined to 22nd in 1954, 25th in 1964, 44th in 1974 and 67th in 1984.[5] The decline then accelerated and Colin ranked 319th most popular name England and Wales in 1996 and 684th most popular in 2014.[6] It has been moderately popular in the United States and was listed in the top 100 boys names in the U.S. in 2005.[7] In Scotland it ranked 302 in 2014,[8][9] but in Ireland it is more popular, ranking 88th in 2006.[10]
In the US, Colin peaked in 2004 at rank 84, but has substantially declined since (rank 196 as of 2016). The form Collin reached the peak of its popularity somewhat earlier, at rank 115 in 1996, and has declined to rank 298 as of 2016. Taken together, the names Colin and Collin accounted for 0.16% (about 1 in 620) of boys named in the US in 2016, down from 0.4% (one in 250) in 2004.[11]
