Calina
Feminine · “heat haze”
Calina is the Spanish word for a summer haze and, separately, the Slavic name for the guelder rose — a shrub with red berries.
How old is the name Calina?
Calina first appears in US birth records in 1976 — 49 years ago. The typical Calina alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 800 people named Calina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Calina most popular?
Calina peaked in 2018, reaching #3789 nationally. Today it ranks #4661, 872 places below that high. See the whole 2018 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Calina
Ours, offered as ours. Kalyna, the guelder rose, is close to a national emblem in Ukraine — it appears constantly in folk song, in embroidery and in poetry, where its red berries stand for blood, for the homeland and for a young woman. Shevchenko uses it repeatedly. The Spanish calina is something entirely different: the trembling air over a hot road in August. Both are precise images and the name can carry either.
Meaningscholars disagree
heat haze; or guelder rose
Spanish calina is the shimmering haze of a hot day, from calor, heat. Slavic kalina is the guelder rose, a shrub heavy with symbolism in Ukrainian and Russian folk song. The two are unrelated.
Pronouncing Calina
kah-LEE-nah
Three syllables with the stress in the middle. There is little variation.
Nicknames for Calina
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
- 1976
- Most girls named
- 201839 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #3789reached in 2018
- Change vs 2024
- 0.0%29 in 2025, from 29
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.
Calina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Calina in Spanish — same name
- Kalyna in Ukrainian — related form
- Kalina in Russian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Calinas among us
people named Calina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 55,423 born in 2025 was named Calina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Calina
- #4661
- Calina on the 2025 chart
- #782
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Calina went to 29 girls in 2025, but Kalina and Kalyna are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 178, which makes it the 782nd most-given girls’ name of the year — 3,879 places above the chart.
- Kalina135
- Calina29
- Kalyna14
About 1 girl in 9,030 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 55,423 for Calina 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 Annessa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Calina's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Annessa climbed just as high around 1968, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Annessa's path sketches the road Calina is walking now.
Calina 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 Calina is headed
Calina should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Calina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Calina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Two settled meanings, both of them vivid and specific images.
- Cali and Lina are both ready short forms in current use.
- Every vowel is sounded, so it reads correctly in most languages.
- The two source languages are unrelated and mean entirely different things.
- Calina, Kalina and Katalina are all in use and get confused.
- It is close to Carolina and Catalina in an American ear.
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What they receive
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Calina
Feminine · #4661 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Calinas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Calina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Calina?
- Calina is one of 3 recorded spellings. Kalina is the more common one — 135 births in 2025 against 29 for Calina.
- How popular is the name Calina in 2025?
- Calina ranks #4661 among US girl names in 2025, with 29 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Calina?
- About 1 in every 55,423 US girls born in 2025 was named Calina — 29 in all.
- Will my child share the name Calina with classmates?
- Calina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Calina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Ellenor#4661 · Roselie#4661 · Marni#4661 · Menucha#4661 · Infinity#4661 · Lilya#4661 · Railyn#4661 · Zada#4661
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Calina? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Calina and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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