Cale
- Pronunciation
- [Cale]
- Gender
- Male
- Meaning
- Bold
- Origin
- English
About the Name Cale
Cale is a short, sturdy English name typically read as "bold," and often understood as a streamlined form of the biblical Caleb, the faithful scout of Hebrew tradition who, with Joshua, was rewarded for his courage. That quiet scriptural link gives the name a depth that belies its brevity, while its single crisp syllable lends it a clean, modern feel. Pronounced Cale, it reads as direct and unfussy — the kind of name that pairs easily with longer or more elaborate surnames and feels at home in almost any setting.
Cale first entered the US Social Security top-1000 in 2000 and held the list through 2012, accumulating 3,546 births across those years. It reached its best national rank of #624 in 2008, with later showings of #691 in 2010 and #911 in 2012 before it eased below the threshold. That arc traces a modest rise through the 2000s and a gentle fade in the following decade, marking it as a quietly fashionable choice of its time rather than a perennial classic.
The name's chief appeal is its lean, confident minimalism — a one-syllable name with genuine backbone and a strong, simple sound. Recorded variants include Cayle and Kale, offering a softer and a more phonetic alternative to the original spelling, so parents can tune the look of the name while keeping its compact, bold character intact.
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration name data, 1880–2024 (methodology). By Marvin Tang.
Quick Facts About Cale
US Popularity History (2000–2012)
Annual US births named Cale by gender, from US Social Security Administration records. Peak year: 2008 with 395 boys named Cale (boy rank #624 that year).
Where it stands today: in 2012, ranked #911 for boys (227 US births). That's 287 places below its 2008 peak.
Source: US Social Security Administration. Limitations: US birth-certificate data only; names appearing fewer than 5 times in a given year are suppressed for privacy; spelling variants are counted separately. For names that ranked outside the US top 100 before year 2000, only the years they reached the top 100 are shown — the chart may have gaps for less-popular historical names.
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Variant Forms
Looking for names like Cale?
A dedicated page with 60+ related names — spelling variants, rhymes, alliterations, same-origin matches, and shared meaning concepts — lives at its own URL so each kind of similarity gets a deeper treatment than fits here.
Compare Cale to Other Popular Names
Side-by-side popularity charts and crossover years for Cale against today's most popular boys-name peers (top 8 by US births in the last 10 years of SSA records).
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