NameChart

Colleen

Girl name

Colleen has been given to 163,084 babies in the U.S. since 1901. It peaked in 1964.

Meaning & origin /kəˈliːn/

From the word colleen, from Irish cailín (“girl”), not used as a name in Ireland. Colleen can also be interpreted as a variant of Coleen, which was a product of marketing by the Hollywood film industry (to promote a new starlet in the 1920s).

Origin: English, Irish

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Popularity over time births per year, 1880–2025

01.137k2.273k3.41k4.546k 18801900192019401960198020002020 Girls Boys
Hover or tap the chart to read any year.

Total babies

163,084

Peak year

1964 (4,560 babies)

Rank in 2025

Below top 1000

First recorded

1901

10-year trend

▼ -48%

Gender split

100% girls / 0% boys

Famous people named Colleen

Colleen McCullough

Australian author (1937-2015)

Colleen Hoover

American author

CoCo Vandeweghe

American tennis player

Colleen Dewhurst

Canadian-American actress (1924-1991)

Notability data from Wikidata (CC0).

Names with a similar vibe

Same primary gender, peaked around the same years, and roughly as common as Colleen.

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