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Cal

#543 in 2025Boys' name

Short form of Calvin

Cal has been given to 7,868 babies in the U.S. since 1880. In 2025 it ranked #543 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 554 recorded.

Babies named Cal, 2025

1 in 5,980

Cal over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
020040060018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Cal: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Calvin

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Cal means

Cal is a short form of Calvin.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Cal → Calvin. The family’s meaning is “bald”, recorded in English with the source elements chauve.

Origin, language, and formation

Cal is used in English.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Calvin, Caleb, Calum and Caroline.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Cal is pronounced /kæl/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 7,858 boys were recorded with the name Cal between 1880 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 554 in 2025; its best national rank was #393 in 1880.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #937 in 2020 to #543 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,255 in 2015 to #543 in 2025.

In the United States, 10 girls were recorded with the name Cal between 1954 and 1955. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1954; its best national rank was #5,829 in 1954.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Cal?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 5,980
554 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 3,080
0.03% of boys
Rank, 2025
#543
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
4,149 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Cal sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 1002%
School of 5008%

Put another way: gather 4,149 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Cal. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Cals were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Cal was born before 2004 — so the typical Cal is around 21 today.

Median birth year
2004
About 21 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
27.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
54.3%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
6,659
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 27.7% of all recorded uses (2,177).

Is Cal rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+127
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+394
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+712
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
3.85×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (554)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
13.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#393
1880

Where Cal is used

Across 2016–2025, Cal was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 917 boys, against 1 in 6,152 across all states with data. It was least common in Maryland (1 in 50,000).

2109 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 917
  2. 2Iowa1 in 1,316
  3. 3Nebraska1 in 2,000
  4. 4Wisconsin1 in 2,041
  5. 5Minnesota1 in 2,174
  6. 6Idaho1 in 2,439
  7. 7Wyoming1 in 2,632
  8. 8North Dakota1 in 2,778

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Geographically, Cal is one of the more regionally concentrated names in the country — more concentrated than 96% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Cal around the world

Where Cal ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #4,275
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1985–2025
    #762
    in 2025
  • Northern Ireland
    1997–2025
    #395
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    1987–2025
    #509
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1993–2024
    #1,037
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1977–2013
    #754
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Cal

People whose public names include Cal, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Cal in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Cal. Linked forms have their own page here.

KalCaleCalebCalleCalumCallumCalvinCathal

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Cal by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#543
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 394
Best rank ever
#393
1880
Peak year
2025
554 that year
First recorded
1880
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
7,858
Count in 2025
554

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#5,829
1954
Peak year
1954
5 that year
First recorded
1954
Last recorded
1955
All-time count
10
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Cal

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

CaleCalumCallenCallanCalenCallumCalinCalderCalanCalixCaliCalobCallahanCalemCalvertPascalCalilCalelCalebCalyxCalianCalibCalvinCalixto

Names with a curve like Cal

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Cal, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

MontgomeryCamiloMillerLeandroCreedValentinoKenjiOzzieMarceloEliseoFordMarcellus

Sibling names for Cal

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Cal

Top names of 2025, Cal's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1880Boys' names starting with CRugged Boy Names