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Kolben vs Kollin

American parents have registered 2,782 Kollins since 1880, against 47 Kolbens. Kollin is still ahead, with 38 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Kolben against Kollin, 1880 to 2025 0 40 80 120 160 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Kolben Kollin

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

Kollin has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1970 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 2007, when Kolben had 15 and Kollin had 79.

Side by side

  Kolben Kollin
Total US births 472,782
Most in one year 15128
Babies in 2025 under 538
Estimated living today 502,700
Median age today 1619
Peak year 20072009
Best rank 5,661st boys1,347th boys
Rank in 2025 unranked3,128th
First recorded 20071970
Girls / boys 0 / 475 / 2,777

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 Kollins alive today are over 19; half the Kolbens are over 16. That is 3 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Kolben and Kollin.