Colgan
"colgan" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Colgan” is uncommon English (frequency #86,155 among 5,599 “C” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #86,155
- frequency rank, English
- 5,599
- “C” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A surname from Irish.
Corpus desk
Index EN-colgan · Colgan · English
Colgan · rank #86,155 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #86,155
- LEN-LONG 6 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 5,599
- PHOTO-FINISH CNO
Nearest frequency peer: CNO (-2 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Long-tail ranks near “Colgan”
Sparse band: bars invert rank so rarer forms read shorter
- clonidine
clonidine
13,849 corpus weight
- CNO
CNO
13,848 corpus weight
- Colgan
Colgan
13,846 corpus weight
- comix
comix
13,844 corpus weight
- commandeeri…
commandeering
13,843 corpus weight
- compellingly
compellingly
13,842 corpus weight
What this shows Long-tail view: where “Colgan” sits against similarly uncommon English ranks.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Colgan |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #86,155 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “Colgan” in English
Rare enough to double-check
Colgan is uncommon English at frequency #86,155 among 5,599 “C” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No misspelling variants are generated for Colgan in our index, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Colgáin (“descendant of Colgán”), a personal name derived from a diminutive form of colg (“thorn; sword”). The correct English form is Colgan, spelled C-O-L-G-A-N.
Definition
- 1A surname from Irish.
- 2An unincorporated community in Divide County, North Dakota, United States.
Etymology
Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Colgáin (“descendant of Colgán”), a personal name derived from a diminutive form of colg (“thorn; sword”).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Colgan", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).