Colin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Colin is a male given name. Colin can be pronounced KOL-in, KOH-lin, or KAH-lin. Like many given names, it has multiple origins, including:

• an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name "Cailean" or "Coileain", meaning "whelp" or "young pup"
• a diminutive form of "Colle", a short French form of Nicholas (Greek), meaning "victorious people"
• a development of the Norse name "Koli", meaning "dark", a Middle English surname given to those living on property whose ownership was disputed
• from the Latin name Columba, meaning "dove", which is also sometimes considered the source of "Cailean"

In the UK and Ireland the name tends to be spelt with one "L", Colin; whereas in the USA it is sometimes spelled with two, Collin. It was never a very popular name in England and Wales, probably peaking around the 1960s, and has not been in the top 100 boy's names for decades. In Scotland it ranked approximately 200th in 2005, only very slightly higher than "Cailean" [1], but in Ireland it is more popular, ranking 80th in 1999 [2]. Colin is becoming slowly more popular in the USA, making the top 100 boys' names in each of the three years to 2005, with Collin being slightly less popular. In total, the two spellings account for around 1 in 300 boys named in the USA in 2005 [3].

Colin may refer to a number of notable things:

People:

• Colin Baker, British actor known best for playing the Sixth Doctor in the television series Doctor Who
• Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde, (1792-1863) Scottish soldier
  • See Colin Campbell for more people with this name.
• Colin Clark, British economist
• Colin Cowdrey, English cricketer
• Colin Farrell, actor
• Colin Ferguson, mass murderer who committed the LIRR massacre
• Colin Ferguson (actor), Canadian actor
• Colin Firth, actor
• Colin Griffiths, comedian
• Colin MacLaurin, mathematician
• Colin McComb, game designer
• Colin McRae, Scottish rally driver
• Colin Meloy, guitarist and singer in The Decemberists
• Colin Mochrie, actor/improv comedian
• Colin Montgomerie, golfer
• Colin Newlin, actor/model
• Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State
• Colin Pillinger, Scientist
• Colin Quinn, comedian
• Colin Richardson, music producer
• Colin Touchin, musician and conductor
• Colin Turnbull, sociologist and author

Other:

• Colin (horse), a thoroughbred race horse who was voted the United States Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year in 1907 and 1908
• Colin was also the name of a robot who appears in the final book of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy, Mostly Harmless.
• Colin is a future name on the hurricane name list; it will first be used in 2010 to replace Charley.
• Colin, a character in the Advance Wars GBA game series
• Colin is a non-playable character in Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
• Colin is a small daschund, and one of the few residents in the Rotten Borough of Dunny-on-the-Wold, of which Blackadder tries to rig the election.