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Kalle

UnisexGirls' nameBoys' name

Free man, through Karl

Kalle has been given to 358 babies in the U.S. since 1977. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1998, with 39 recorded. It's used for both sexes: 91% girls, 9% boys all-time.

Babies named Kalle, 2013

1 in 608,000

Kalle over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
01020304018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Girls or boys — Kalle over time

In 2015, Kalle went to 0% girls and 100% boys.

19772015

A sex is only published in years it reached five applications, so a stretch at 0% or 100% means the other side stayed under that floor — not that it was never used.

Kalle: meaning, origin, and history

Free man, through Karl

Finnish and Swedish

What Kalle means

Kalle belongs to the name family reached through Kalle → Kalle → Kalle → Karl. Its meaning is “free man”.

Origin, language, and formation

Kalle is used in Estonian, Finnish, German and Swedish. Its origins include Finnish and Swedish.

Kalle comes through Swedish and and Finnish Kalle.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Kalev, Kaarle, Karl and Kalle.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Finnish, Kalle is pronounced /ˈkɑlːe/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 325 girls were recorded with the name Kalle between 1977 and 2013. Its highest annual count was 39 in 1998; its best national rank was #3,192 in 1998.

In the United States, 33 boys were recorded with the name Kalle between 1989 and 2015. Its highest annual count was 7 in 1997; its best national rank was #7,687 in 1997.

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 Kalle?

Kalle had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 2013, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 2013
1 in 608,000
6 of 3,645,938 births
Among girls only
1 in 292,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 2013
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
421,196 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kalle sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2013 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 421,196 children born in 2013 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kalle. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kalles were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kalle was born before 1998 — so the typical Kalle is around 27 today.

Median birth year
1998
About 27 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
37.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
83.7%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
325
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 37.8% of all recorded uses (123).

Is Kalle 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
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1998 (39)
Years since peak
27
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
41.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#3,192
1998

Spellings of Kalle

Kalle is not the most common spelling — Kelly is, with 16.5% against Kalle'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 Kalle is used

Across 1910–2025, Kalle was most concentrated in Ohio — about 1 in — girls, against 1 in 1,246,291 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Ohio1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls 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. Kalle has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kalle around the world

Where Kalle 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
    2024–2024
    #4,844
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    2009–2009
    #818
    in 2009

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kalle by the numbers

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

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#3,192
1998
Peak year
1998
39 that year
First recorded
1977
Last recorded
2013
All-time count
325
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#7,687
1997
Peak year
1997
7 that year
First recorded
1989
Last recorded
2015
All-time count
33
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Kalle

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

KallaKalisKaliiKallenKallanKalanaKalyseKalynaKaleyaKallynKalisaKallyKalyaKaloniKalenKalaiKalleyKalanKalaiaKalanyKalleeKaleesiKalyaniKaleiah

Sibling names for Kalle

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 Kalle

Top names of 1998, Kalle's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1998Girls' names starting with KCharles Variations & NicknamesEstonian Boy NamesFinnish Boy Names