Male name
Colin
1,329 births (England and Wales, 1996–2025), peaking in 1997. Expression number: 8.
Origin
(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.From Wiktionary, entry “Colin”, text under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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How many babies received it
From the official birth registers.
In England and Wales
Peak in 1997: 79 births. 1,329 births from 1996 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. It is still given: 121 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Baby names in England and Wales, Open Government Licence v3.0.
In the United States
Peak in 2004: 5,147 births. 134,151 births from 1880 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. At its peak, it ranked 85th among boys' names in 2004. It really came into use around 1914. It is still given: 5,456 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Social Security Administration, Popular Baby Names, public domain.
In Ireland
Peak in 1984: 269 births. 6,714 births from 1964 to 2025. A name given mostly in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. At its peak, it ranked 38th among boys' names in 1985. It is still given: 47 births from 2021 to 2025.
Source: Central Statistics Office, Irish Babies' Names, CC BY 4.0.
Elsewhere in the world
The name in the birth records of the 10 countries we track. The period covered varies from country to country.
| Country | Births | Period | Best rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 6,760 | 1900–2025 | — |
| Switzerland | 3,578* | 1915–2025 | — |
| Quebec | 1,355 | 1980–2025 | — |
| Austria | 540 | 1984–2025 | — |
| Berlin | 197 | 2012–2023 | — |
* These are the people living in the country, counted by year of birth, not the number of births.
Source: INSEE, Fichier des prénoms, Etalab Open Licence 2.0; Federal Statistical Office, First names of the population by year of birth, free use with attribution; Retraite Québec, Banque de prénoms, CC BY 4.0; Statistik Austria, Vornamen, CC BY 4.0; Open Data Berlin, Häufige Vornamen, CC BY 3.0 DE (every name a child carries, not only the first).
The numbers of the name
Each letter has a value: A = 1, B = 2… I = 9, then J = 1 again (Pythagorean method). We add them up, then reduce to a single digit, except 11, 22 and 33.
■ vowel · ■ consonant
Expression
All the letters: talents, the way you act.
8
power, achievement, your relationship with money
3 + 6 + 3 + 9 + 5 = 26 → 8
Soul
The vowels: what drives you deep down.
6
responsibility, harmony, commitment to others
6 + 9 = 15 → 6
Personality
The consonants: what others notice first.
11
intuition and inspiration (master number)
3 + 3 + 5 = 11
- Digits missing from the name
- 1, 2, 4, 7, 8
- Most frequent digit
- 3 · expression, creativity, sociability
The meaning of the numbers comes from numerological tradition; it isn't a measure of your personality. A full portrait needs your first and middle names, your last name at birth, and your date of birth. How we calculate
Your name and theirs
The number of each name, and the number of the bond, which comes from adding them together. A symbolic game: what your two names say together, to be read as a metaphor, not as a verdict on your relationship.