Colbey
A masculine name of English origin, possibly derived from "cold" and "valley".
Name Census estimates that about 540 living Americans carry the first name Colbey. It is a predominantly male name (94.9% of registrations). The average person named Colbey today is around 27 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Colbey births was 2002 (39 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Colbey. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Colbey with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
540
~ 1 in 634,730 Americans
Peak year
2002
39 babies that year
Average age
27
years old
2016 SSA rank
#10,990
Tracked since 1983
Census
Colbey in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 553 people with the first name Colbey, which placed it at #19,251 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#19,251
National first-name rank
People counted
553
553 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Colbey
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Colbey is White at 83.7%. The next largest groups are Black (5.1%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Colbey described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Colbey at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.7% · 463
- Black or African American5.1% · 28
- Two or more races4.9% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino4.7% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 5
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 4
Gender
Gender distribution for Colbey
Colbey leans heavily male at 94.9% of total registrations, but 28 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Colbey as a male name
- Ranked #10,990 in 2016
- 6 male births in 2016
- Peak: 2002 (39 births)
Colbey as a female name
- Ranked #18,239 in 2007
- 5 female births in 2007
- Peak: 1993 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Colbey leans strongly male. 462 people counted with this name were male (83.1%), compared with 94 female bearers (16.9%).
Popularity
Colbey: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Colbey from the 1980s through to the 2010s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 229 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Colbey by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Colbey during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Colbeys live
Origin
Meaning and history of Colbey
The given name Colbey has its origins in the Old English language and can be traced back to the 7th century AD. It is derived from the Old English words "col" meaning "coal" and "bey" meaning "settlement" or "dwelling place." The name was likely given to someone who lived or worked near a coal mining settlement or village.
In the early Middle Ages, the name appeared in various historical records, including the Domesday Book, a manuscript record of landholdings and estates commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name was Colbey of Mercia, a nobleman who lived in the 9th century during the reign of King Alfred the Great.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained popularity among the nobility and aristocracy. One notable bearer of the name was Colbey de Montfort, a French knight who fought in the Crusades in the 12th century. Another was Colbey Fitzwilliam, an English courtier and diplomat who served under King Henry VIII in the 16th century.
In the 17th century, the name was associated with the Puritan movement in England. Colbey Winthrop, a Puritan minister and one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, was born in 1588 and played a significant role in the early history of New England.
The 19th century saw the name Colbey gain popularity in the literary world. Colbey Coleridge, the son of the renowned English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, was born in 1800 and became a renowned writer and philosopher in his own right.
Throughout history, other notable individuals with the name Colbey include Colbey Chesterton, an English writer and philosopher born in 1874, and Colbey Naismith, the Canadian inventor of basketball, who was born in 1861.
It is worth noting that while the name Colbey has a rich historical background, its usage has been relatively uncommon in modern times, particularly in comparison to other given names of English origin.
People
Colbey + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Colbey as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Colbey: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Colbey?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 540 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Colbey going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 634,730 US residents.
Is Colbey a common name?
We classify Colbey as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 551 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Colbey most popular?
The single biggest year for Colbey was 2002, when 39 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Colbey is about 27 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Colbey in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 553 people with the name Colbey, or 0.18 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #19,251 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Colbey in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Colbey?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Colbey leans strongly male. 462 people counted with this name were male (83.1%), compared with 94 female bearers (16.9%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Colbey?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Colbey is White at 83.7%. The next largest groups are Black (5.1%) and Two or More Races (4.9%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Colbey most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Colbey in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.7% (463 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Colbey in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Colbey a male name?
Yes, 94.9% of people registered as Colbey in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Colbey still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Colbey in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Colbey can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Colbey as a first name?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.