Boy · Hebrew
Caleb
Say it: KAY-leb
Meaning
Hebrew Kalev, 'dog'. The reading 'whole-hearted' (from kol lev) is a later interpretation, not the etymology.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
A Puritan name that rose again in the United States from the 1980s.
Its wave through time
Popular now
In the United States
- 296,407 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 2002, about 1 in 166 boys
- 5,552 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Kaleb
| French | Caleb |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Caleb |
| German | Caleb |
| Hebrew | Kalev |
Famous bearers
- Caleb, one of the two faithful spies in Numbers
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- Puritan church and town records of England and New England
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.