Colson
Son of Nicholas, a name of English origin.
Name Census estimates that about 8,547 living Americans carry the first name Colson. It sits at #353 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Colson today is around 8 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Colson births was 2022 (1,058 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Colson. 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 Colson with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Colson is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 8 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
8.5K
~ 1 in 40,102 Americans
Peak year
2022
1,058 babies that year
Average age
8
years old
2024 SSA rank
#353
Tracked since 1924
Census
Colson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 3,748 people with the first name Colson, which placed it at #4,812 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
#4,812
National first-name rank
People counted
3.7K
3,748 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
86.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Colson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Colson is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Colson 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 Colson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White86.7% · 3,249
- Two or more races4.9% · 185
- Hispanic or Latino4.1% · 153
- Black or African American2.8% · 106
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 31
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 24
Popularity
Colson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Colson from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 4,880 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Colson 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 Colson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Colsons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Ohio, Texas, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Colson, while Rhode Island, New Mexico, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 154 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Colson
The name Colson is an English surname that has been used as a given name. It originated as an occupational surname, derived from the Old English words "col" meaning coal and "sunu" meaning son, referring to someone whose occupation was related to coal mining or working with coal.
The earliest recorded use of Colson as a surname dates back to the 13th century in England. It was initially concentrated in areas with significant coal mining activities, such as Yorkshire and Lancashire. Over time, it became more widely distributed across Britain.
While the name Colson has no direct historical references in ancient texts or religious scriptures, it reflects the significance of the coal industry in medieval and early modern England. Coal mining played a vital role in the country's economic and industrial development during this period.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Colson was Thomas Colson, who lived in the 14th century and was mentioned in the Subsidy Rolls of Yorkshire in 1379. Another notable early bearer of the name was William Colson, a merchant and alderman in London, who lived from around 1550 to 1616.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Colson as a first name:
1. Colson Whitehead (born 1969) is an American novelist and non-fiction writer, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel "The Underground Railroad" (2016).
2. Colson Hanna (1837-1913) was an American businessman and politician from Indiana, serving as the 9th Lieutenant Governor of Indiana from 1893 to 1897.
3. Colson Hiram Turnage (1846-1927) was an American politician and lawyer from Mississippi, serving as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1901 to 1909.
4. Colson P. Erwin (1846-1923) was an American lawyer and politician from Georgia, serving as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1893 to 1897.
5. Colson B. Ingram (1858-1928) was an American businessman and politician from Kansas, serving as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1907 to 1911.
While the name Colson has its origins in an occupational surname related to the coal industry, it has since evolved into a given name used by individuals from various backgrounds and professions. Its historical significance lies in its connection to the coal mining industry, which played a crucial role in England's economic and industrial development during the medieval and early modern periods.
People
Colson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Colson 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
Colson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Colson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 8,547 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Colson 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 40,102 US residents.
Is Colson a common name?
We classify Colson as "Rare". It ranks above 97.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 8,624 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Colson most popular?
The single biggest year for Colson was 2022, when 1,058 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Colson is about 8 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Colson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 3,748 people with the name Colson, or 1.24 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,812 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 Colson 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 Colson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Colson appears almost entirely male. Of the 3,752 people counted with this name, 99.1% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Colson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Colson is White at 86.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.9%) and Hispanic (4.1%). 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 Colson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Colson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 86.7% (3,249 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 Colson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Colson a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Colson 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 Colson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Colson 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 Colson 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 common is the name Colson?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.