Caleb
Top 1000
About Caleb
Caleb is an attractive Old Testament name that has been in the US Top 100 for nearly three decades now. Consistently popular but never too popular, Caleb feels more like a classic than a momentary trend.
Caleb has two potential derivations, the first being from the Hebrew kelev, meaning "dog," and the second from the Hebrew components kal and lev, together meaning "whole heart."
In the Old Testament Caleb is one of only two ancient Israelites (Joshua was the other) who set out from Egypt to finally enter the promised land.
Caleb Garth is a character in George Eliot's Middlemarch. Caleb was the full name of James Dean's character Cal in East of Eden, and the name has also been heard on Desperate Housewives and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.Julianne Moore chose Caleb for her son, as did Bo Bice. The shortform Cale is also rising in popularity, and the current Kaleb spelling picks up on the K-to-C initial trend.
Pronounced KAY-leb.
As of October 2026, Caleb ranked #58 in US births in 2025 SSA, peaked at #31 in 2009, Nameberry popularity #96.
Editor's take: The name Caleb is a boy's name of Hebrew origin meaning "dog; whole heart".
Popularity & trends
Data table
| Year | US rank | Births | Per million |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | #35 | 9,243 | 4,811.9 |
| 2015 | #37 | 8,823 | 4,603.1 |
| 2016 | #44 | 7,978 | 4,204 |
| 2017 | #50 | 7,151 | 3,863.4 |
| 2018 | #45 | 6,994 | 3,851 |
| 2019 | #51 | 6,414 | 3,574.8 |
| 2020 | #56 | 5,612 | 3,251.3 |
| 2021 | #51 | 5,961 | 3,407.3 |
| 2022 | #52 | 5,772 | 3,305.8 |
| 2023 | #51 | 5,521 | 3,227.6 |
| 2024 | #49 | 5,766 | 3,346.7 |
| 2025 | #58 | 5,217 | 3,054.3 |
World rankings
Similar names
These 20 names were selected by our users looking for other names like Caleb.
- Ethan
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- Levi
- Gabriel
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- Liam
- Jonah
Caleb on lists
Famous Calebs
- Caleb
great,grandson of patriarch Judah (1 Chr. 2)
- Caleb Nott
New Zealand musician
- (Caleb) Casey Affleck
American actor
- (Anthony) Caleb Followill
American musician of band Kings of Leon
- Caleb Deschanel
American film director, father of actresses Zooey and Emily Deschanel
- Caleb Crushing
American diplomat
- Caleb Carr
American novelist
- Caleb Lyon
American politician, 2nd governor of Idaho Territory
- Caleb Strong
U.S. Senator and governor of Massachusetts
- Caleb James Sturgis
American NFL football player
- Caleb Cassidy
son of American actor/producer Shaun Cassidy
- Caleb Knightley
brother of English actress Keira Knightley
- Caleeb Pinkett
American actor and brother of actress Jada Pinkett Smith
- Caleb Landry Jones
American actor
- Caleb Logan LeBlanc
late American YouTuber
- Caleb Joseph Eckstein
American child actor; triplet of brothers Alexander and Benjamin
- Caleb James Goddard (b. 1970)
son of actors Susan Anspach and Jack Nicholson; adopted son of actor Mark Goddard
- Caleb Freundlich (b. 1997)
son of actress Julianne Moore and director Bart Freundlich
- Caleb Mojica (b. 1998)
son of singer Trina Braxton
- Caleb Kai Solomon (b. 2007)
fourth son of American "Octomom" Nadya Suleman
- Caleb Bela Caballero (b. 2007)
son of skateboarder Steve Caballero
- Caleb James Bice (b. 2008)
son of singer Bo Bice
- Caleb Michael Hamels (b. 2009)
son of baseball player Cole Hamels
- Caleb Marleau (b. 2014)
son of ice hockey player Patrick Marleau
- Caleb Kelechi Asomugha (b. 2016)
son of actress Kerry Washington
- Caleb McLaughlin
American actor
Caleb in pop culture
- Caleb
the Rebel leader in "W.I.T.C.H", a comic book series and animated series
- Caleb Garth
character in George Eliot's "Middlemarch" (1871)
- Caleb Brewster
character in TV show "TURN: Washington's Spies"
- Caleb Trask
character in John Steinbeck's East of Eden
- Caleb Prior
character in the Divergent series
- Caleb Smallwood
character on The CW's "The Vampire Diaries"
- Caleb Rivers
character on Freeform's "Pretty Little Liars" and "Ravenswood"
- Caleb Williams
a novel by William Godwin and main character
- Caleb Pontipee
character in movie "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"
- Caleb Witting
character in Sarah Plain and Tall by Patricia McLaughlan
- Caleb Temple
character on TV's "American Gothic"
- Caleb Nichol
character on TV's "The O.C."
- Caleb
character on TV's "Buffy the Vampire Slayer"
- Caleb ben Hilliel
character in H. Rider Haggard's, Pearl Maiden
- Caleb O'Dell
character on CBC's Heartland
- Caleb Jacks
character from Mari Mancusi's "Scorched", twin of Connor Jacks
- Caleb
minor character in Lois Lowry's "The Giver"
- Caleb Haas
character on ABC's "Quantico"
- Caleb Calhoun
character on A&E's "Bates Motel"
- Caleb Widogast
character in Dungeons & Dragons show "Critical Role"
- Caleb Vatore
pre,made vampire in The Sims 4
- Caleb Altair
character in the Zodiac Academy series