Kalem
#8,577 in 2025Boys' nameMeaning not yet documented
Kalem has been given to 965 babies in the U.S. since 1974. In 2025 it ranked #8,577 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2017, with 38 recorded.
Babies named Kalem, 2025
1 in 368,000
Kalem over time, 1880–2025
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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.
How common is Kalem?
Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.
- Among all babies, 2025
- 1 in 368,000
- 9 of 3,315,165 births
- Among boys only
- 1 in 190,000
- <0.01% of boys
- Rank, 2025
- #8,577
- of 13,926 boys’ names in use
- Coin-flip room size
- 255,323 kids
- Even odds of a second one
Where Kalem sits on the popularity scale
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.
Put another way: gather 255,323 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kalem. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.
When Kalems were born
Half of everyone ever recorded as Kalem was born before 2007 — so the typical Kalem is around 18 today.
- Biggest decade
- 2010s
- 29.6% of all use
- Born in the last 25 years
- 62.3%
- A modern name
- Recorded since 1950
- 965
- People you could plausibly meet
2010s — 29.6% of all recorded uses (286).
Is Kalem 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
- −1,945
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 5 years ago
- −4,965
- Places dropped
- Rank vs 10 years ago
- −4,942
- Places dropped
- Births vs 10 years ago
- 0.30×
- Fewer babies than then
- Share of its own peak
- 23.7%
- Peak was 2017 (38)
- Years since peak
- 8
- Years
- Year-to-year steadiness
- Shifting
- 24.3% average annual change
Spellings of Kalem
Kalem is not the most common spelling — Kyle is, with 25.0% against Kalem's 0.05%.
Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.
Where Kalem is used
Across 1910–2025, Kalem was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 1,128,718 across all states with data. It was least common in Texas (1 in —).
Most concentrated
- 1California1 in —
- 2New York1 in —
- 3Texas1 in —
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. Kalem has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.
Kalem around the world
Where Kalem 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 & Wales1996–2022#4,790in 2022
- Scotland2011–2011#648in 2011
- Northern Ireland1998–1998#272in 1998
- Ireland1996–2022#657in 2022
- France2012–2023#6,293in 2023
- Canada1994–2022#2,602in 2022
- South Australia1981–2010#754in 2010
Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, 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. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.
Kalem by the numbers
The raw record for each sex the name is used for.
Names similar to Kalem
Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.
Sibling names for Kalem
Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.