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Kalev

#5,717 in 2025Boys' name

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Kalev has been given to 250 babies in the U.S. since 2000. In 2025 it ranked #5,717 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2014, with 21 recorded.

Babies named Kalev, 2025

1 in 207,000

Kalev over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kalev: meaning, origin, and history

Multiple documented origins; meaning depends on tradition

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Kalev means

Kalev has more than one naming route in the cited origin entries: distinct naming traditions.

The naming story behind Kalev

A separate documented entry treats Kalev as a form of Kaleva. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

A separate documented entry treats Kalev as a form of Caleb. That is a personal-name relationship, which differs from translating the letters of the modern spelling into one universal English word. The linked origin entry identifies the context of this relationship.

Origin, language, and formation

Kalev is used in Estonian.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 250 boys were recorded with the name Kalev between 2000 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 21 in 2014; its best national rank was #4,618 in 2014.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #7,253 in 2020 to #5,717 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #6,511 in 2015 to #5,717 in 2025.

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 Kalev?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 207,000
16 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 107,000
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#5,717
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
143,620 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kalev 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 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 143,620 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kalev. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kalevs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kalev was born before 2016 — so the typical Kalev is around 9 today.

Median birth year
2016
About 9 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
52.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
98.0%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
250
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 52.8% of all recorded uses (132).

Is Kalev 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
+312
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,536
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+794
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.23×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
76.2%
Peak was 2014 (21)
Years since peak
11
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
29.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#4,618
2014

Spellings of Kalev

Kalev is not the most common spelling — Kyle is, with 25.7% against Kalev's 0.01%.

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 Kalev is used

Across 1910–2025, Kalev was most concentrated in California — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 3,486,540 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1California1 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. Kalev has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kalev around the world

Where Kalev 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.

  • Canada
    2019–2019
    #2,943
    in 2019
  • South Australia
    1979–1979
    #486
    in 1979

Popularity data from Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kalev by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#5,717
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,536
Best rank ever
#4,618
2014
Peak year
2014
21 that year
First recorded
2000
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
250
Count in 2025
16

Names similar to Kalev

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

KalaiKaleiKalixKaledKaletKalumKalyanKallinKaliqKalemKaleemKalmenKalethKalonKalidKalikKaldenKaleelKalybKaloKalilKalynKalijahKalan

Sibling names for Kalev

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 Kalev

Top names of 2014, Kalev's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 2014Boys' names starting with KEstonian Boy NamesEstonian Names