Caleb - Meaning of Caleb

What does Caleb mean?

Pronounce
Caleb

[ 2 syll. ca-leb, cal-eb ] The baby boy name Caleb is pronounced as KEY-LahB (English) †. Caleb is primarily used in the English and Hebrew languages, and its language of origin is Hebrew. The name's meaning is dog; dog-like devotion to God. A biblical name, it is derived from the element 'keleb' which means dog. An old form of Caleb is Kaleb (Hebrew). In the Bible, Caleb was one of Moses' companions in the journey to the promised land of Canaan. The name was consequently popular with Puritans after the Reformation, particularly in USA. In literature, the name has appeared in William Godwin's novel Caleb Williams (1794).

Caleb is a widely used name; it has 27 forms that are used in English and other languages. Forms used in English include Caeleb, Caelob, Caileb, Cailob, Calab, Calen, Caley, Calib, Calie, Calob, Calub, Calyb, Cayleb, Caylob, Kalebh, Kalin, Kalyb, Kayleb, and Kaylob. Other English forms include the contractions Cael, Cal, Cale, and Kale, and the variant spelling Kaleb (used in Hebrew, Dutch and German as well). Foreign forms of Caleb include the Arabic Kalb, the Hawaiian Kalepa, and the Hebrew Kalev.

See also the related categories, god, puritans, english, companions (brother), land, biblical, hebrew, dog, journey, and literature.

Caleb is very popular as a baby name for boys. The name jumped in popularity from the 1960s up to the 2000s. At the peak of its usage in 2002, 0.564% of baby boys were given the name Caleb. It ranked at #35 then. The baby name has since declined in popularity. In 2018, its usage was 0.359% and its ranking #45, but it was nonetheless the most popular out of all boy names in its group. In 2018, 4 times more boys were named Caleb than the next ranked name, Kaleb.

Baby names that sound like Caleb include Kaleb, Calib, Calob, Cleave, Colebee, Coleby, and Kelevi.

† Pronunciation for Caleb: K as in "key (K.IY)" ; EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; L as in "lay (L.EY)" ; AH as in "mud (M.AH.D)" ; B as in "be (B.IY)"