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Colter

#157 in 2025Boys' name

Keeper of horses

Colter has been given to 10,705 babies in the U.S. since 1971. In 2025 it ranked #157 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 2,354 recorded.

Babies named Colter, 2025

1 in 1,410

Colter over time, 1880–2025

Boys
01K2K3K18801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Colter: meaning, origin, and history

Keeper of horses

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Colter means

Colter means “Keeper of horses”.

The naming story behind Colter

Colter entered given-name use through an English occupational surname. The occupation involved keeping horses, and the recorded vocabulary route connects it with Middle English colt. A family surname connection and the occupation’s historical meaning are distinct parts of the naming story.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10,705 boys were recorded with the name Colter between 1971 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 2,354 in 2025; its best national rank was #157 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #972 in 2020 to #157 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,268 in 2015 to #157 in 2025.

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 Colter?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 1,410
2,354 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 726
0.14% of boys
Rank, 2025
#157
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
977 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Colter 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 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 201%
Class of 302%
Grade of 1007%
School of 50030%

Put another way: gather 977 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Colter. In a class of 30 the chance is 2%.

When Colters were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Colter was born before 2022 — so the typical Colter is around 3 today.

Median birth year
2022
About 3 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
59.9% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
83.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
10,705
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 59.9% of all recorded uses (6,417).

Is Colter 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
+61
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+815
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+1,111
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
16.58×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (2,354)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
24.9% average annual change
Best rank ever
#157
2025

Spellings of Colter

Colter is not the most common spelling — Walter is, with 43.4% against Colter's 0.74%.

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.

Where Colter is used

Across 2016–2025, Colter was most concentrated in Montana — about 1 in 230 boys, against 1 in 2,266 across all states with data. It was least common in Massachusetts (1 in 33,333).

3435 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Montana1 in 230
  2. 2Wyoming1 in 238
  3. 3North Dakota1 in 394
  4. 4South Dakota1 in 403
  5. 5Idaho1 in 467
  6. 6Utah1 in 709
  7. 7West Virginia1 in 752
  8. 8Iowa1 in 787

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Colter is one of the more regionally concentrated names in the country — more concentrated than 98% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Colter around the world

Where Colter 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.

  • England & Wales
    2022–2025
    #1,466
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2024–2024
    #785
    in 2024
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #235
    in 2024

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office and Statistics Canada. ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Colter

People whose public names include Colter, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Colter by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#157
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 815
Best rank ever
#157
2025
Peak year
2025
2,354 that year
First recorded
1971
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10,705
Count in 2025
2,354

Names similar to Colter

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

ColsonColtenColemanColtinFosterBusterCollinsColsenColtynPorterColetonCollinColesonBaxterKarterColmanColvinColdenColbyColeyColtDexterCollierCollyn

Names with a curve like Colter

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Colter, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

StetsonEithanColsonJazielAzielCallanKoaShilohCallumBakerKairoZyaire

Sibling names for Colter

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 Colter

Top names of 2025, Colter's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 2025Boys' names starting with C