Calder
Masculine · “rough water”
Calder is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,166 boys against 37 girls since 1880.
Calder is a river name found across northern Britain — from Celtic elements meaning violent water, which is what those rivers do in spate.
How old is the name Calder?
Calder first appears in US birth records in 1980 — 45 years ago. The typical Calder is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 2,100 people named Calder are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Calder most popular?
Calder peaked in 2016, reaching #1443 nationally. Today it ranks #1728, 285 places below that high. See the whole 2016 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From caled dwfr to Calder
The story of Calder
The Calder is a Yorkshire river prone to sudden flooding, and there are Calders in Lancashire, Cumbria and West Lothian. The surname came from the places. Alexander Calder, the American sculptor who invented the mobile, is the best-known bearer. The name appears in American records rising and is in current use.
Meaningscholars disagree
rough water, violent stream
From Brythonic Celtic elements generally read as caled, 'hard' or 'violent', and dwfr, 'water'. Several rivers in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Scotland carry the name. A second reading takes it as 'stony water'. The Celtic origin is not disputed; the exact elements are.
How the name formed
- caled dwfr
- Calder
Related forms: Cawdor · Kalder
Pronouncing Calder
KAWL-dur
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some speakers say KAL-dur with a short first vowel.
Nicknames for Calder
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
- 1980
- Most boys named
- 2016120 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1443reached in 2016
- Change vs 2024
- +20.5%94 in 2025, from 78
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.
Calder in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Cawdor in Scottish — related form
- Kalder in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Calders among us
people named Calder are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 18,171 born in 2025 was named Calder
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Keneth test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Calder's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Keneth climbed just as high around 1956, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Keneth's path sketches the road Calder is walking now.
Calder 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
Where Calder is headed
Calder should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Calder beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Calder in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The violent-water meaning is concrete and the rivers are real.
- The sculptor who invented the mobile carries the surname.
- Cal is available as a short form with a real record.
- The exact Celtic elements are genuinely disputed.
- It reads as a surname before it reads as a given name.
- The first vowel splits between two readings.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Calder
Masculine · #1728 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Calders are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,100 people named Calder are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Calder in 2025?
- Calder ranks #1728 among US boy names in 2025, with 94 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Calder?
- About 1 in every 18,171 US boys born in 2025 was named Calder — 94 in all.
- Will my child share the name Calder with classmates?
- Calder will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Calder
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Clinton#1728 · Jahir#1728 · Eder#1728 · Fredrick#1728 · Anson#1728 · Kain#1728 · Wilmer#1728 · Bentlee#1728
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Calder? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Calder and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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