Caldwell
Masculine · “the cold spring or stream”
Caldwell means the cold spring, and it names places in both Scotland and northern England before it names any family. As a given name it belongs to the American practice of using a mother's maiden surname as a son's first name, which was at its most widespread around 1900 — exactly where this name's American peak sits, inside the top eleven hundred and eleven in 1906.
How old is the name Caldwell?
Caldwell first appears in US birth records in 1906 — 119 years ago. The typical Caldwell alive today was born around 1941, making them about 84 years old. About 300 people named Caldwell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Caldwell most popular?
Caldwell peaked in 1906, reaching #1111 nationally. Today it ranks #5861, 4,750 places below that high. See the whole 1906 chart.
Where it comes from
From cald wella to Caldwell
The story of Caldwell
The Caldwells of Renfrewshire are the best-documented family of the name, and Scottish and Ulster-Scots Caldwells emigrated to America in large numbers in the eighteenth century, settling heavily in Pennsylvania, the Carolinas and Tennessee. The surname became common enough that its promotion to a given name was natural: American families in the nineteenth century regularly gave a son the mother's family name as his first name, which is how Caldwell, Kenner, Thayer, Garner and dozens of others reached birth certificates. That practice explains most of the surname names in the American record before 1930, and it is quite different from the fashion-driven surname wave that began in the 1980s.
Meaning
the cold spring or stream
Old English cald, 'cold', and wella, 'spring, well, stream' — both entirely ordinary words, combined in the plainest possible way. English place naming is full of such compounds and they are usually reliable descriptions rather than poetic ones: a Caldwell was a place where cold water came out of the ground. The name occurs independently in Renfrewshire in Scotland, in Yorkshire and in County Durham, each producing its own family.
How the name formed
- cald wella
- Caldwell
Related forms: Caldwell · Caldwell
Pronouncing Caldwell
KAWLD-wel
Two syllables, stress on the first, exactly as the two ordinary words run together. The d is often swallowed in fast speech, giving something closer to KAWL-wel.
Nicknames for Caldwell
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
- 1906
- Most boys named
- 191821 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1111reached in 1906
- Change vs 2024
- +7.1%15 in 2025, from 14
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.
Caldwell in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caldwell in Scottish — same name
- Caldwell in Irish — same name
Caldwells among us
people named Caldwell are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 113,872 born in 2025 was named Caldwell
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Caldwell 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
Caldwell beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Caldwell in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Cal is a short, current nickname that stands alone as a name.
- The pronunciation is transparent to any English reader.
- The place-name elements behind it are genuinely old and easy to explain.
- Two syllables of ordinary words make the name conspicuous in casual conversation.
- It is strongly associated with the surname, so it may be assumed to be a last name.
- Its American curve is early-twentieth-century, which places a bearer's generation.
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Caldwell
Masculine · #5861 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Caldwells are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Caldwell are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Caldwell in 2025?
- Caldwell ranks #5861 among US boy names in 2025, with 15 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Caldwell?
- About 1 in every 113,872 US boys born in 2025 was named Caldwell — 15 in all.
- Will my child share the name Caldwell with classmates?
- Caldwell will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Caldwell
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eber#5861 · Wilton#5861 · Ruby#5861 · Stacy#5861 · Garner#5861 · Severin#5861 · Sebastiano#5861 · Newton#5861
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Caldwell? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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