Name Awesome

Colum

Boys' name

Form of Columba

Colum has been given to 86 babies in the U.S. since 1972. 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 1999, with 9 recorded.

Babies named Colum, 2016

1 in 612,000

Colum over time, 1880–2025

Boys
02.557.51018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Colum: meaning, origin, and history

Form of Columba

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Colum means

Colum is a form of Columba.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Colum is used in Irish and Old Irish.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Columba.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 86 boys were recorded with the name Colum between 1972 and 2016. Its highest annual count was 9 in 1999; its best national rank was #5,114 in 1972.

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 Colum?

Colum had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2016, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2016
1 in 612,000
6 of 3,669,531 births
Among boys only
1 in 316,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2016
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
423,922 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Colum 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 2016 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 423,922 children born in 2016 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Colum. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Colums were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Colum was born before 2002 — so the typical Colum is around 23 today.

Median birth year
2002
About 23 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
33.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
94.2%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
86
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 33.7% of all recorded uses (29).

Is Colum 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 1999 (9)
Years since peak
26
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
37.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#5,114
1972

Spellings of Colum

Colum is not the most common spelling — Cole is, with 38.4% against Colum's 0.02%.

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.

Colum around the world

Where Colum 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
    1996–1999
    #2,425
    in 1999
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2012
    #403
    in 2012
  • Ireland
    1964–2013
    #605
    in 2013
  • South Australia
    1959–1984
    #455
    in 1984

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Colum 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
#5,114
1972
Peak year
1999
9 that year
First recorded
1972
Last recorded
2016
All-time count
86
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Colum

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

ColbiColesynColbeColsynColstenColesenKellumColaColbinColbieCaylumColanColstynCollanColwynColbenKaylumKaelumColmKalumColebyCollynColestonColen

Sibling names for Colum

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 Colum

Top names of 1999, Colum's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1972Boys' names starting with C