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Colan

Boys' name

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Colan has been given to 237 babies in the U.S. since 1915. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1994, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Colan, 2003

1 in 760,000

Colan over time, 1880–2025

Boys
05101518801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Colan: meaning, origin, and history

Meaning unconfirmed; recorded in an 1884 name reference

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Colan means

Colan is a given name.

The naming story behind Colan

Charlotte M. Yonge’s 1884 History of Christian Names includes the exact spelling Colan in its glossary. The entry labels it masculine and points to printed page(s) 261.

The glossary’s abbreviated description reads: “Corn. Lat. dove”. This is the historical author’s wording, including its language abbreviations and any proposed interpretation. It is presented as historical evidence, not as a verified modern translation. Victorian classifications and root explanations can differ from later linguistic research.

For Colan, the current short meaning therefore remains unconfirmed. Establishing its modern etymology requires a current reference that documents the exact form and its relationship to the proposed earlier words.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 237 boys were recorded with the name Colan between 1915 and 2003. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1994; its best national rank was #2,918 in 1936.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

How common is Colan?

Colan had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2003, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2003
1 in 760,000
5 of 3,801,425 births
Among boys only
1 in 395,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2003
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
526,991 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Colan sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2003 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 526,991 children born in 2003 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Colan. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Colans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Colan was born before 1981 — so the typical Colan is around 44 today.

Median birth year
1981
About 44 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
31.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
53.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
183
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 31.2% of all recorded uses (74).

Is Colan rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1994 (11)
Years since peak
31
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
21.6% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,918
1936

Spellings of Colan

Colan is not the most common spelling — Dylan is, with 15.8% against Colan's <0.01%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Colan around the world

Where Colan ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • South Australia
    1986–1986
    #460
    in 1986

Popularity data from Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Colan by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#2,918
1936
Peak year
1994
11 that year
First recorded
1915
Last recorded
2003
All-time count
237
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Colan

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

CollanColsynColbieRilanSolanEilanXylanJolanWylanCylanColmZolanNalanEylanNilanColbeCollynColenColebyMillanKhalanZylanColieNylan

Sibling names for Colan

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Colan

Top names of 1994, Colan's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1936Boys' names starting with C