Humanverse

Colleen vs Collier

American parents have registered 163,084 Colleens since 1880, against 2,174 Colliers. But in 2025 it was Collier that was commoner, 65 babies to 60.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Colleen against Collier, 1880 to 2025 0 1.3k 2.5k 3.8k 5k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Colleen 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 126 years in which either name was published, Colleen for 121 years and Collier for 5 years. The lead changed hands 6 times.

Side by side

  Colleen Collier
Total US births 163,0842,174
Most in one year 4,56080
Babies in 2025 6065
Estimated living today 133,0001,900
Median age today 5814
Peak year 19642013
Best rank 94th girls2,165th boys
Rank in 2025 2,822nd3,036th
First recorded 19011898
Girls / boys 162,754 / 330304 / 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 Colleens alive today are over 58; half the Colliers are over 14. That is 44 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Where each one is strongest

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: Colleen and Collier.