Colson
Meaning of Colson
Colson, pronounced /ˈkoʊlsən/ in standard English, arose as an Anglo-American patronymic meaning “son of Cole,” with Cole serving either as a medieval short form of Nicholas or as an Old English by-word for the dark, coal-like hue of iron; the name therefore nods simultaneously to paternal lineage and to the elemental imagery of craftsmanship. As a surname it threads through early parish registers on both sides of the Atlantic, later entering given-name territory in the United States, where Social Security records reveal a measured but unmistakable ascent: after decades of marginal use, Colson began a sustained climb in the mid-1990s, moved past the 500th rank by 2018, and has held in the low 300s since 2022. Contemporary associations include the American musician Colson Baker (better known as Machine Gun Kelly) and the pop-culture resonance of Marvel’s Agent Phil Coulson—orthographically distinct yet phonetically identical—both of which have reinforced the name’s modern currency without detaching it from its sober, craftsmanlike roots.
Pronunciation
American English
- Pronunced as KOL-suhn (/ˈkoʊlsən/)
British English
- Pronunced as KOL-suhn (/ˈkɔlsən/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Colson
| Colson Whitehead is an American novelist and MacArthur Fellow, author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys, who won the National Book Award and is one of the few writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice. |
