Colleen

Colleen comes from the Gaelic word cailín, which means "girl" or "wench." Although Colleen is often though of as an Irish name, it is apparently not used as a given name in Ireland. Using it as a name there would be about the same as naming a girl "Gal" in the U.S. What is interesting, however, is the number of girls of Irish descent in the U.S. who were given the name Colleen, because it "sounds Irish" and went well with their Irish surnames. Colleen has enjoyed some popularity as a given name in the U.S., however, peaking in the 1960's. It currently is still used often enough to be a top 1000 name, but is far from common.