# Colin (given name)

Colin is an English-language masculine given name. It has two distinct origins:
* A diminutive form of "Colle", itself an Old French short form of the name Nicolas (Nicholas). This name, but not the anglicized Gaelic name, is also found in the spelling Collin. This name is formed by the Old French diminutive -in also found in Robin.
* An anglicisation of the Irish given name Coileán or the Scottish Gaelic name Cailean, which both come from the Old Irish word cuilén "pup, cub". The Scottish Gaelic name is recorded in the spelling Colin from as early as the 14th century. MacCailean was a patronymic used by Clan Campbell, after Cailean Mór (died 1296).
As a surname, Colin can be derived from the given name, but can also be of unrelated (French) origin. The Irish patronymic Ó Coileáin gave rise to the surname Cullen (which is also the anglicization of the unrelated patronymic Ó Cuilinn).
In England and Wales, Colin was one of the Top 100 most commonly given male names for most of the 20th century but declined greatly at the end of the century and since. It rose steadily from 96th in 1904 to 82nd in 1914, 61st in 1924, 26th in 1934 and 15th in 1944. It then declined to 22nd in 1954, 25th in 1964, 44th in 1974 and 67th in 1984. The decline then accelerated and Colin ranked 319th most popular name England and Wales in 1996 and 684th most popular in 2014. It has been moderately popular in the United States and was listed in the top 100 boys names in the U.S. in 2005. In Scotland it ranked 302 in 2014, but in Ireland it is more popular, ranking 88th in 2006.
In the US, Colin peaked in 2004 at rank 84, but has substantially declined since (rank 196 as of 2016). The form Collin reached the peak of its popularity somewhat earlier, at rank 115 in 1996, and has declined to rank 298 as of 2016. Taken together, the names Colin and Collin accounted for 0.16% (about 1 in 620) of boys named in the US in 2016, down from 0.4% (one in 250) in 2004.

## People called Colin
### Medieval and early modern

* Cuilén mac Ildulb (died 971), King of Alba
* Cailean Mór (died 1296), Scottish chief, progenitor of Clan Campbell
* Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll (died 1493)
* Colin Campbell, 3rd Earl of Argyll (died 1529)
* Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll (died 1584)

### Modern
#### A–G

* Colin Alevras, American restaurateur
* Colin Allred, American politician
* Colin Baker (born 1943), British actor
* Colin Bean, British actor
* Colin Bell, several people
* Colin Blakely, Irish actor
* Colin Blanchard (born 1970), English paedophile convicted in the 2009 Plymouth child abuse case
* Colin Bland, South African cricketer
* Colin Blunstone, English singer from the Zombies
* Colin Braun, American race car driver
* Colin Burgess (musician) (born 1946), Australian Musician
* Colin C. Berry, Canadian actor
* Colin Cairnes, Australian film director and writer
* Colin Calderwood, Scottish footballer, coach and manager
* Colin Campbell Cooper, American Impressionist painter
* Colin Campbell Mitchell, British Army lieutenant-colonel and politician
* Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde, (1792–1863) Scottish soldier
** See Colin Campbell (disambiguation) for more people with this name
* Colin Cassady, American professional wrestler
* Colin Chapman, English founder of Lotus Cars
* Colin Clark (disambiguation)
* Colin Clive, British-American actor
* Colin Coates (born 1946), Australian ice speed skater
* Colin Cowdrey, English cricketer
* Colin Cowherd, American sports radio personality
* Colin Croft, West Indian cricketer
* Colin Crouch, British political scientist
* Colin Cunningham (swimmer), British swimmer
* Colin Cunningham, American film and TV actor
* Colin Dagba, French Footballer
* Colin Davis, English conductor
* Colin Delaney, American professional wrestler
* Colin Edwards, American motorcycle racer
* Colin Edwin, Australian musician
* Colin Egglesfield, American actor
* Colin Emerle, American musician
* Colin Falvey, Irish footballer
* Colin Farrell, Irish actor
* Colin Ferguson, Canadian actor
* Colin Ferguson (mass murderer), American mass murderer
* Colin Firth (born 1960), British actor
* Colin Fox (actor), Canadian actor
* Colin Furze, British YouTuber
* Colin Gardner (c. 1940 – 2010), English football official and philanthropist
* Colin Greening, Canadian pro hockey player
* Colin Greenwood, English bassist for rock band Radiohead
* Colin Griffiths, English comedian

#### H–Z

* Colin Hanks, American actor
* Colin Hay (born 1953), Scottish-Australian lead singer of Men at Work
* Colin Heathcock (born 2005), American fencer
* Colin Hendry (born 1965), Scottish footballer
* Colin Holba (born 1994), American football player
* Colin Huggins (born 1978), American classical pianist and busker
* Colin Ireland, British serial killer
* Colin Jackson, Welsh hurdler
* Colin Jost, American comedian, screenwriter, and TV actor
* Colin Kaepernick, American NFL football player
* Colin Kelly, American aviator and war hero of the Second World War
* Colin Kroll (died 2018), American internet entrepreneur
* Colin Lane (born 1965), Australian comedian
* Colin Mackenzie, (1754–1821), Scottish soldier and surveyor
** See Colin Mackenzie (disambiguation) for more people with this name
* Colin Maclaurin, Scottish mathematician
* Colin Mason (1926–2020), New Zealand-Australian politician and writer
* Colin Mathura-Jeffree, New Zealand actor/model/celebrity
* Colin McAllister, Scottish interior designer and television presenter
* Colin McComb, American game designer
* Colin McFarlane, English actor
* Colin McGinn, British philosopher
* Colin McLoughlin, British freelance writer
* Colin McRae (1968–2007), Scottish rally driver
* Colin Meads, New Zealand rugby union player
* Colin Meloy, American guitarist and singer in The Decemberists
* Colin Milner Smith (1936–2020), English cricketer and judge
* Colin Mochrie, Scottish Canadian actor/improv comedian
* Colin Montgomerie, Scottish golfer
* Colin Morgan, Irish actor
* Colin Moulding, bassist and singer for band XTC
* Colin Murdoch, New Zealand medical inventor
* Colin Murray, British radio DJ and television presenter
* Colin Needham, founder of the Internet Movie Database
* Colin Newman, singer and guitarist for band Wire
* Colin O'Donoghue, Irish actor
* Colin Pillinger, British planetary scientist
* Colin Powell (1937–2021), U.S. Secretary of State
* Colin Quinn, American comedian
* Colin Raston, Australian chemist and Ig Nobel Laureate
* Colin Reitz, British long-distance runner
* Colin Richardson, music producer
* Colin P. Rourke, British mathematician
* Colin Schooler (born 1997), American football player
* Colin Slade, New Zealand rugby union player
* Colin Simmons (born 2006), American football player
* Colin Stagg, the man wrongly imprisoned in the Rachel Nickell murder case
* Colin Touchin, British musician and conductor
* Colin Townsley, firefighter and George Medal recipient
* Colin Thompson (disambiguation), several people
* Colin Thorne (Professor) British academic leading the Blue-Green cities project
* Colin Turnbull, sociologist and author
* Colin Vearncombe, singer known as Black
* Colin Ward, political writer
* Colin Watkinson, British cinematographer
* Colin Welland, British actor and screenwriter
* Colin West (born 1962), English football player and coach
* Colin West (author), English children's author and illustrator
* Colin West (footballer, born 1967), English football player
* Colin Wilson, British writer
** See Colin Wilson (disambiguation) for more people with this name
* Colin Winter, bishop
* Colin Winchester (1933–1989), assistant commissioner in the Australian Federal Police
* Colin Young (Born 2007), a scottish video game developer.
* Colin Woodell, American actor

## Fictional characters

* Collin, a character in the animated series Helluva Boss, voiced by Jayden Libran
* Colin, a character from the 1965 film Repulsion
* Colin, the titular character of the English comic series Colin the Vet
* Colin, a character in the 2006 video game Need for Speed: Carbon
* Colin, an anthropomorphic computer from Don't Hug Me I'm Scared
* Colin Creevey, a character from the Harry Potter series
* Colin Craven, a character from The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
* Colin Clout, fictional poetic folk figure, appearing first in the works of John Skelton and later in many works by Edmund Spenser
* Colin Evans, main antagonist of the 2014 film No Good Deed
* Colin Frater, a character from Ip Man 4: The Finale
* Colin Mallory, a main character in the television series Sliders
* Colin Robinson, a character from What We Do in the Shadows
* Colin Bridgerton, third son of Bridgerton family from Bridgerton series