Colin
Meaning and origin
(given name): * Coll + -in. Diminutive of Coll, a medieval short form of Nicholas. * It has also been used to anglicize Irish Coileán and Scottish Gaelic Cailean.
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Colin (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Colin has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2015. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Boys |
|---|---|
| 1998 | – |
| 1999 | 16 |
| 2000 | 21 |
| 2001 | 18 |
| 2002 | 28 |
| 2003 | 36 |
| 2004 | 35 |
| 2005 | 45 |
| 2006 | 59 |
| 2007 | 48 |
| 2008 | 71 |
| 2009 | 80 |
| 2010 | 77 |
| 2011 | 92 |
| 2012 | 115 |
| 2013 | 151 |
| 2014 | 199 |
| 2015 | 232 |
| 2016 | 190 |
| 2017 | 186 |
| 2018 | 207 |
| 2019 | 188 |
| 2020 | 211 |
| 2021 | 223 |
| 2022 | 195 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Men and boys |
|---|---|
| 1999 | 166 |
| 2000 | 192 |
| 2001 | 208 |
| 2002 | 247 |
| 2003 | 283 |
| 2004 | 318 |
| 2005 | 360 |
| 2006 | 416 |
| 2007 | 465 |
| 2008 | 548 |
| 2009 | 635 |
| 2010 | 719 |
| 2011 | 813 |
| 2012 | 930 |
| 2013 | 1,082 |
| 2014 | 1,284 |
| 2015 | 1,520 |
| 2016 | 1,720 |
| 2017 | 1,909 |
| 2018 | 2,126 |
| 2019 | 2,312 |
| 2020 | 2,516 |
Colin in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Colin.Hi! My name is Colin.
- Har du träffat Colin? Han började jobba här i måndags.Have you met Colin? He started working here on Monday.
- Colin har bott i Uppsala i tre år.Colin has lived in Uppsala for three years.
- Colins mamma är lärare.Colin's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Colins mamma is Colin's mum.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Colin
How do you pronounce Colin in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Colin in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Colin mean?
(given name): * Coll + -in. Diminutive of Coll, a medieval short form of Nicholas. * It has also been used to anglicize Irish Coileán and Scottish Gaelic Cailean.
How popular is Colin in Sweden?
195 babies were named Colin in 2022. In 2020, 2,516 people in Sweden had Colin as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2015 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.