Cala
Feminine · “Spanish cala”
The calla lily is not a lily and it is not a calla. Linnaeus put it in the wrong genus, botany moved it to Zantedeschia two hundred years ago, and the florists have simply carried on, so the flower now has a name that belongs to a different plant.
How old is the name Cala?
Cala first appears in US birth records in 1950 — 75 years ago. The typical Cala alive today was born around 1997, making them about 28 years old. About 500 people named Cala are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Cala most popular?
Cala peaked in 1990, reaching #3523 nationally. Today it ranks #10107, 6,584 places below that high. See the whole 1990 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From cala to Cala
The story of Cala
Carl Linnaeus named a genus Calla in 1753 for the bog arum of northern Europe, and when the showy South African arum reached horticulture it was filed alongside it. Botanists separated them in 1826, giving the South African plant the genus Zantedeschia, but by then the trade name was fixed, and the flower sold in every florist as a calla lily belongs neither to Calla nor to the lilies. That kind of fossilized misnaming is common in plant names, where commerce and science keep separate books. The Spanish cala, meanwhile, is an entirely separate word meaning a small sheltered bay, and it appears all along the Mediterranean coast in place names, from the Balearics to Catalonia. Both are plausible sources for the American name and the records cannot choose between them.
Meaningscholars disagree
Spanish cala, a small cove
Cala is a Spanish and Catalan word for a small cove or inlet, common in Mediterranean place names. The same spelling is used as a short form of Calla, the flower name, and of names such as Calandra. No single origin covers the American entries; the peak is 1990.
How the name formed
- cala
- Cala
Related forms: Cala · Calla · Calla
Pronouncing Cala
KAH-lah
Two syllables, stress on the first. English speakers often say KAL-uh with a short first vowel, following the flower.
Nicknames for Cala
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1950
- Most girls named
- 199030 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3523reached in 1990
- Change vs 2024
- +12.5%9 in 2025, from 8
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Cala in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cala in Spanish — same name
- Calla in English — spelling variant
- Calla in Italian — related form
Calas among us
people named Cala are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 178,585 born in 2025 was named Cala
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Cala
- #10107
- Cala on the 2025 chart
- #740
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Cala went to 9 girls in 2025, but Calla, Calah and Kalla and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 6 spellings went to 221, which makes it the 740th most-given girls’ name of the year — 9,367 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 7,273 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 178,585 for Cala itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Pascale test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Cala's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Pascale climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Pascale's path sketches the road Cala is walking now.
Cala sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Cala beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Cala in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Four letters and two open syllables.
- It works in Spanish and English without adjustment.
- Cal is a short form that suits either sex.
- Two vowel readings of the first syllable are in use.
- Calla, Callie and Kayla all sit close to it.
- The flower it suggests is misnamed, which is worth knowing.
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What they receive
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Cala
Feminine · #10107 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Calas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Cala are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Cala?
- Cala is one of 6 recorded spellings. Calla is the more common one — 156 births in 2025 against 9 for Cala.
- How popular is the name Cala in 2025?
- Cala ranks #10107 among US girl names in 2025, with 9 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Cala?
- About 1 in every 178,585 US girls born in 2025 was named Cala — 9 in all.
- Will my child share the name Cala with classmates?
- Cala will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Cala
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Berta#10107 · Jettie#10107 · Maye#10107 · Osa#10107 · Fidelia#10107 · Alysa#10107 · Su#10107 · Willie#10107
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Cala? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Cala and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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