How common is the surname Colquhoun?

674 people in the United States had the surname Colquhoun in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 458,079 Americans. It ranked 33,772nd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Colquhoun?

Alva Colquhoun, Australian swimmer, followed by Ithell Colquhoun.

Where is the surname Colquhoun most common?

Wikidata records people named Colquhoun in the United Kingdom and Australia.

How do you pronounce Colquhoun?

Colquhoun is /kəˈhuːn/, 3 syllables.

Is the surname Colquhoun getting more or less common?

More common. 602 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 674 in 2010, up 12%.

The surname Colquhoun

A Scottish Gaelic place surname, carried by 674 people in the United States.

Pronounced /kəˈhuːn/ 3 syllables Soundex C425

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Colquhoun is more common than 79.2% of them.

Origin

Scottish Gaelic origin

Habitational surname borrowed from Scottish Gaelic, possibly from cùil (“nook, angle, corner”) + cumhang (“narrow, close”).

Colquhoun is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 674 people named Colquhoun in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 458,079 Americans. That is up 12% since 2000, when the Census counted 602.

#33,772

rank among US surnames

674

people in 2010

0.2

per 100,000 Americans

+12%

change since 2000 (was #35,387)

Who is named Colquhoun

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

76% of people named Colquhoun identified as white (not Hispanic), 17% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as two or more races.

White (not Hispanic) 76%
Black (not Hispanic) 17%
Two or more races 2.7%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.4%

The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Asian & Pacific Islander, Native American are not shown.

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Colquhouns

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Alva Colquhoun
Australian swimmer, 1942–2025
Ithell Colquhoun
British artist (1906–1988)
Sophie Colquhoun
British actress, born 1989

Notable Colquhouns come mostly from the United Kingdom (2) and Australia (1).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Colquhoun

Colquhoun has the Soundex code C425, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code C425.

Other Scottish Gaelic surnames

All 277 Scottish Gaelic surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Colquhoun come from?: Habitational surname borrowed from Scottish Gaelic, possibly from cùil (“nook, angle, corner”) + cumhang (“narrow, close”).
How common is the surname Colquhoun?: 674 people in the United States had the surname Colquhoun in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 458,079 Americans. It ranked 33,772nd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Colquhoun?: In the 2010 Census, 76% of people named Colquhoun identified as white (not Hispanic), and 17% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Colquhoun?: Alva Colquhoun, Australian swimmer, followed by Ithell Colquhoun.
Where is the surname Colquhoun most common?: Wikidata records people named Colquhoun in the United Kingdom and Australia.
How do you pronounce Colquhoun?: Colquhoun is /kəˈhuːn/, 3 syllables.
What type of surname is Colquhoun?: Colquhoun is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Colquhoun getting more or less common?: More common. 602 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 674 in 2010, up 12%.