Given name & surname · also Gaelic
Colman
“one who burns charcoal; resembling a dove”
Colman has a related form in Coleman. One English interpretation is “one who burns charcoal; resembling a dove.”
Original LatinColumba
Meaning & origin
What it means
Colman has a related form in Coleman. One English interpretation is “one who burns charcoal; resembling a dove.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is Late Latin.
How it developed
In English usage, Colman is a diminutive of Colm. In English usage, Colman developed from Columba.
The story
The name’s historical associations include a large number of early Irish saints, including Colman of Armagh, a 5th-century disciple of St Patrick.
Colman through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,045
- 1,045 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 2002
- 27 babies
- 2025
- 8
- #9,076 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- +7%
- Steady
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 8 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 9,076 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 27 in 2002. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 770 as a first name in 2020; 3,711 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Colman’s family of names
In English usage, Colman is a diminutive of Colm. In English usage, Colman shares a linguistic root with the Icelandic form Kalman. Colman has a related form in Coleman.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Colman has relatives in 8 languages. Lines run from its Latin roots to each of them.
Latinwhere Colman comes from · 1 name
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 11
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Columbaroot · Latin
- Kalmancognate · Icelandic, Old Norse
- Collmanrelated name · English
- Kálmánderivative
- कोल्मनMarathi
- ColmánIrish
- KolomanGerman
- Colombaincognate
Show 3 moreShow fewer
See also 1
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Colman
- Colman DomingoAmerican actor (born 1969)
- Coloman of StockerauIro-Scottish monk patron saint of Austria until 16631000–1012
- Colmán of LindisfarneBishop of Lindisfarne; Saint605–675
- Colmán of CloyneIrish monk and poet522–600
- Saint ColmanIrish Christian missionary700–689
- Colman McCarthyAmerican journalist1938–2026
- Colman mac DuaghIrish saint501–632
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Appears in
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