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Kalman

#4,087 in 2025Boys' name

Dove

Kalman has been given to 1,258 babies in the U.S. since 1912. In 2025 it ranked #4,087 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2017, with 26 recorded.

Babies named Kalman, 2025

1 in 128,000

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Kalman: meaning, origin, and history

Dove

Old Irish

What Kalman means

Kalman means “dove”, associated with columb.

Origin, language, and formation

Kalman is used in Icelandic and Old Norse. Its origins include Old Irish.

Kalman comes through Old Norse Kalman, Middle Irish Colmán, Old Irish columb and Latin columba.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Colman and Koloman.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 1,258 boys were recorded with the name Kalman between 1912 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 26 in 2017; its best national rank was #1,174 in 1914.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #5,568 in 2020 to #4,087 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #4,966 in 2015 to #4,087 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 Kalman?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 128,000
26 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 65,700
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#4,087
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
88,382 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Kalman 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 88,382 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Kalman. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Kalmans were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Kalman was born before 1966 — so the typical Kalman is around 59 today.

Median birth year
1966
About 59 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
13.2% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
32.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
787
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 13.2% of all recorded uses (166).

Is Kalman 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
+1,684
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+1,481
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+879
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.37×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2017 (26)
Years since peak
8
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
24.2% average annual change
Best rank ever
#1,174
1914

Spellings of Kalman

Kalman is not the most common spelling — Alan is, with 62.0% against Kalman's 0.21%.

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 Kalman is used

Across 1910–2025, Kalman was most concentrated in New York — about 1 in 33,333 boys, against 1 in 64,085 across all states with data. It was least common in Pennsylvania (1 in —).

03 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1New York1 in 33,333
  2. 2New Jersey1 in 100,000
  3. 3Pennsylvania1 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. Kalman has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Kalman around the world

Where Kalman 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
    1999–2020
    #4,608
    in 2020
  • France
    1936–1936
    #897
    in 1936
  • South Australia
    1951–1980
    #422
    in 1980

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0.

Kalman by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#4,087
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 1,481
Best rank ever
#1,174
1914
Peak year
2017
26 that year
First recorded
1912
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
1,258
Count in 2025
26

Names similar to Kalman

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

KallanKalaniKallumKallenKalilKalanKaleelKalonKalibKalethKaleemKalemKalobKalinKaladinRahmanKaleoFermanLuqmanHarmanColmanBowmanCaymanKalvin

Sibling names for Kalman

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 Kalman

Top names of 2017, Kalman's peak yearThe 2010s in fullOther names that peaked in 1914Boys' names starting with KHungarian Boy Names