Humanverse

Coltin vs Colton

American parents have registered 152,174 Coltons since 1880, against 2,572 Coltins. Colton is still ahead, with 3,426 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Coltin against Colton, 1880 to 2025 0 2k 4k 6k 8k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Coltin Colton

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

Colton has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1913 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2002, when Coltin had 117 and Colton had 3,053.

Side by side

  Coltin Colton
Total US births 2,572152,174
Most in one year 1266,496
Babies in 2025 143,426
Estimated living today 2,500150,000
Median age today 1914
Peak year 20122013
Best rank 1,346th boys65th boys
Rank in 2025 6,143rd103rd
First recorded 19871913
Girls / boys 0 / 2,572209 / 151,965

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 Coltins alive today are over 19; half the Coltons are over 14. That is 5 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: Coltin and Colton.