Colson

Colson is an English masculine given name derived from a surname meaning "son of Col". The surname Colson originated as a patronymic from the medieval short form Col, itself a diminutive of Nicholas. The root name Nicholas comes from the Greek Nikolaos, meaning "victory of the people"—from nike (victory) and laos (people)—and gained widespread popularity thanks to the 4th-century Saint Nicholas, a bishop from Anatolia known for his generosity, who later inspired the figure of Santa Claus.

History and Usage

The surname Colson is recorded in England from at least the 13th century. As a given name, Colson was extremely rare until the 21st century; it entered the American top 1000 rankings in 2017, probably influenced by phonetically and stylistically similar names such as Cole and Colton. The name remains most common in the United States.

Notable Bearers

Notable individuals with the surname Colson include Charles Colson (1931–2012), the American counsel for Richard Nixon and later an evangelical Christian leader; Bonzie Colson (born 1996), an American basketball player; and Elizabeth Colson (1917–2016), an American social anthropologist. The name has also been used sparingly as a given name for public figures, though no prominent bearers of Colson as a first name have yet emerged.

Variants

A variant spelling of the given name is Colsen, though Colson is the more common form.

• Meaning: "son of Col" (a medieval short form of Nicholas)
• Origin: English surname turned given name
• Type: Patronymic
• Usage: Chiefly English (United States)