Colby vs Collier
American parents have registered 58,155 Colbys since 1880, against 2,174 Colliers. Colby is still ahead, with 515 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Colby Collier
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 115 years in which either name was published, Colby for 99 years and Collier for 16 years. The lead changed hands 14 times.
10 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Colby | Collier | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 58,155 | 2,174 |
| Most in one year | 3,979 | 80 |
| Babies in 2025 | 515 | 65 |
| Estimated living today | 56,000 | 1,900 |
| Median age today | 24 | 14 |
| Peak year | 2001 | 2013 |
| Best rank | 99th boys | 2,165th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 615th | 3,036th |
| First recorded | 1888 | 1898 |
| Girls / boys | 4,184 / 53,971 | 304 / 1,870 |
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 Colliers are over 14. That is 10 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
- Colby Maine (4.3×), New Hampshire (4.2×), Utah (4.1×)
- Collier Alabama (14.9×), Georgia (12.1×), Texas (3.6×)
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Colby and Collier.