Colleen
From the Irish cailín, meaning girl, used in Irish English for a young woman. Irish Americans took it up as a given name rather than families in Ireland.
Colleen in 2025
Colleen was given to 60 babies in the United States in 2025, making it the 4,969th most popular name of the year. That is roughly one in every 55,256 babies born.
The history of Colleen
Colleen reached its highest point in 1964, when 4,560 babies were given the name, ranking 179th that year.
Across the 125 years of records since 1901, 163,084 babies have been named Colleen. Half of them were born before 1964, which places the name's centre of gravity with the Baby Boomers.
Colleen by decade
| Decade | Babies named Colleen | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | 72 | 1,550 |
| 1910s | 413 | 1,548 |
| 1920s | 6,086 | 333 |
| 1930s | 7,440 | 363 |
| 1940s | 10,478 | 283 |
| 1950s | 35,945 | 203 |
| 1960s | 40,762 | 179 |
| 1970s | 23,845 | 220 |
| 1980s | 19,562 | 268 |
| 1990s | 12,927 | 333 |
| 2000s | 3,887 | 837 |
| 2010s | 1,274 | 2,153 |
| 2020s | 393 | 4,049 |
Where Colleen is heading
Colleen has fallen 48% over the past decade, from 115 babies in 2015 to 60 in 2025.
That is less than 5% of its 1964 peak — Colleen is now a rare name in the United States.
Names like Colleen
Names that rose and fell at the same time as Colleen.