Boy · #12,301 in 2026

Cobalt

Name: Popularity of the name Cobalt in U.S. births, 1880–2026
Creator: U.S. Social Security Administration
License: https://www.ssa.gov/foia/
Keywords: Cobalt, baby name, popularity, U.S., SSA, rankings

Cobalt is a chemical element; it has symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. The free element, produced by reductive smelting, is a hard, lustrous, somewhat brittle, gray metal.

Current Rank

#12,301

Peak Rank

#9,639 (2014)

Total Babies

5-Yr Trend

Stable

2014

First Year

2024

Last Year

2014

Peak Year

#9639

Peak Rank

Total Count

Years Active

Meaning & Origin of Cobalt

What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures.

Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0). Read more →

Etymology

See also: Gnome § Cobalt ore Many different stories about the origin of the word "cobalt" have been proposed. In one version the element cobalt was named after " kobelt ", the name which 16th century German silver miners had given to a nuisance type of ore which occurred that was corrosive and issued poisonous gas. Although such ores had been used for blue pigmentation since antiquity, the Germans at that time did not have the technology to smelt the ore into metal (cf. § History below). The authority on such kobelt ore (Latinized as cobaltum or cadmia ) at the time was Georgius Agricola . He

Origin & history

Early Chinese blue and white porcelain, manufactured c. 1335 Cobalt compounds have been used for centuries to impart a rich blue color to glass , glazes , and ceramics . Cobalt has been detected in Egyptian sculpture, Persian jewelry from the third millennium BC, in the ruins of Pompeii , destroyed in 79 AD, and in China, dating from the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD) and the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 AD). Cobalt has been used to color glass since the Bronze Age . The excavation of the Uluburun shipwreck yielded an ingot of blue glass, cast during the 14th century BC. Blue glass from Egypt was either

The Story of Cobalt

The earliest SSA record of Cobalt as a baby boy name dates back to 2014, when 7 babies received it. 2014 was its biggest year on record, with 7 newborns named Cobalt — #9,639 in the national rankings. About 78% of every Cobalt on record arrived during the 2010s, its defining decade. Cobalt last appeared in the published SSA data in 2024, with 5 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 23 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 2010s to the 2020s.

Popularity Over Time

Popularity by State

Top 10

11-50

51-100

101-500

500+

No data

Names that sound like Cobalt

Phonetically similar names — useful when Cobalt is the vibe but a different syllable count or letter feel might suit better. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.

Kobalt
Kobold
Cobol
Cobbled
Coble
Cabled
Caillebotte
Koble
Kobel
Cobles
Cabal
Kabbalah

Source: Datamuse . Phonetic similarity ranking, not curated.

Frequently Asked Questions about Cobalt

What does the name Cobalt mean?

How popular is Cobalt in 2026?

In 2026, Cobalt ranks #12,301 among boys' names in the U.S., with 5 babies given the name that year.

When was Cobalt most popular?

Cobalt reached its peak popularity in 2014, ranking #9,639 that year with 7 babies given the name.

Is Cobalt a unisex name?

In U.S. Social Security records, Cobalt is primarily a boy's name. We don't have meaningful data for it as a girl's name.

What names go well with Cobalt?

Names that share a similar style or popularity range with Cobalt include Falco, Kellam, Sa. These pairings are based on rank proximity and naming era in U.S. data.

About the name Cobalt

Cobalt is a boy baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 2014 and has accumulated 23 births in the dataset. Cobalt's peak popularity came in 2014 when it ranked #9,639. Use the chart and map above to compare Cobalt's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices.

Continue exploring

Data sources

Birth statistics (counts, ranks, years 1880–2026) — U.S. Social Security Administration . Predictions for years not yet released by SSA are computed by Peek a Name from historical trends; we update with official data as soon as it ships.
Etymology, cultural origins, and related forms — Behind the Name (used under their public API terms).
Meaning prose and editorial summary — Wikipedia article extracts, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 .
Predicted nationality distribution — Nationalize.io .
Phonetically similar names — Datamuse .

Peek a Name aggregates and presents the above data for informational purposes. Statistical predictions and external attributions are clearly labelled where shown; we make no guarantee of accuracy beyond what each source provides.