girl's name
Colleen
KOL-een
- Origin Irish
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 2
- Letters 7
- Popularity Uncommon
- Births on record 167,533
Northern Ireland
#470
2023 births
Colleen means girl in Irish, and it is barely used in Ireland — it is an Irish-American name rather than an Irish one. Ireland ranks it 841st while our records hold 166,248 lifetime births, almost all American.
- Colleen is a name of Irish origin.
- Peaked in 1964, when 4,560 babies were given the name.
- It has been falling over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 55,258 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1901.
- 2 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Colleen over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1900s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1900s | 72 |
| 1910s | 413 |
| 1920s | 6,086 |
| 1930s | 7,440 |
| 1940s | 10,478 |
| 1950s | 35,945 |
| 1960s | 40,762 |
| 1970s | 23,845 |
| 1980s | 19,562 |
| 1990s | 12,927 |
| 2000s | 3,887 |
| 2010s | 1,274 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 393 |
What Colleen means
Colleen means girl, or young woman. The Irish cailín is the ordinary common noun, so the name is a word for the thing rather than a name with a separate sense.
Where Colleen comes from
Colleen is the Irish cailín, a girl — the same word English borrowed as colleen in nineteenth-century writing about Ireland, and it descends through Old Irish from a Latin borrowing meaning a young person. It was never a traditional Irish given name, because naming a daughter girl is not how Irish naming worked; it was taken up by Irish-Americans as a marker of heritage and traveled back only thinly. Our market data shows exactly that shape, which is unusual — most names cross in the other direction.
Colleen in use
Colleen peaked in the United States in 1964, when 4,560 babies were registered, and is falling in our data. It now ranks 841st in Ireland on 4 births, 2845th in the United States on 60 and 6855th in France, across 167,533 lifetime births. The Irish rank is higher than the American one now only because the American fall has been steeper; the lifetime volume is overwhelmingly American.
How popular is Colleen?
In 2025, Colleen was given to 60 babies in the United States. It is used consistently but remains uncommon.
Where Colleen is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
Names that peaked alongside Colleen
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Colleen also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Colleen over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
1 nickname for Colleen
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Colleen in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Colleen
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Colleen — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Colleen
What does the name Colleen mean?
Girl — the Irish cailín, the ordinary word.
Is Colleen used in Ireland?
Barely. It was never a traditional Irish name and was taken up by Irish-Americans as a heritage marker.
Why isn't it traditional in Ireland?
Naming a daughter girl is not how Irish naming worked — traditional names carry saints, qualities or ancestors.
How popular is Colleen?
2845th in the United States and 841st in Ireland, down from a 1964 American peak of 4,546 births.
Is Colleen a girl's or a boy's name?
Colleen is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Colleen?
Colleen has 2 syllables.
What are the nicknames for Colleen?
Colleen is usually shortened to Coll.
Is Colleen a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Colleen currently ranks #841 in the United States. It has been falling over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.