Caleb
Meaning
traditionally "whole-hearted," often linked to the Hebrew for "dog" as an emblem of devotion; the scout who kept faith in the wilderness and entered the promised land. A Puritan favorite returned as a modern staple, with Cal for short
The story
Caleb walks out of the Book of Numbers: one of the twelve scouts Moses sent ahead into Canaan and, alongside Joshua, one of only two who came back urging faith instead of fear. That story made the name a byword for whole-hearted devotion, and the Puritans, who loved a name with a lesson in it, brought Caleb to colonial America. For a long stretch it lived quietly in the records, an old Bible name passed down here and there but rarely fashionable. That changed in the late twentieth century: Caleb began climbing in the 1980s, gathered speed through the 1990s, and spent the 2000s and 2010s as a mainstream favorite. It has softened only a touch in the 2020s. Underneath the trend, it remains what it always was: a name for the one who keeps the faith when everyone else loses it.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Caleb peaked in the 2000s and the 2010s in nearly equal measure.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
18,012 people · the #1,137 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 11,236 · median age 5
Among people named Caleb living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.
The census also counted 6,638 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Caleb
Most people given the name Caleb in the United States are teenagers or young adults today.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Caleb deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Caleb truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Caleb fits with your family’s names and surname.
Where Caleb travels
Korean American · whole-hearted, faithful (the loyal scout; a newer church favorite for Korean American sons)
Hebrew · faithful, whole-hearted
Keep exploring
Names like Caleb · Nicknames for Caleb · Korean American baby names · Hebrew baby names
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