Calise
Feminine
There is a Greek word on the golden apple. Kallisti, to the fairest, is what Eris wrote on it before rolling it among the goddesses, and the quarrel it started ended in the Trojan War. Calise is not from that word, but the C spelling puts it within reach of it.
How old is the name Calise?
Calise first appears in US birth records in 1979 — 46 years ago. The typical Calise alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 500 people named Calise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Calise most popular?
Calise peaked in 2015, reaching #4403 nationally. Today it ranks #6838, 2,435 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Calise
The C and the K spell the same sound and carry opposite histories. C came into English through Latin and French and appears in nearly every classical borrowing; K came through Germanic and Norse and appears in almost none. So Kalise reads as modern and invented while Calise, letter for letter identical in sound, reads as though it might be Greek. It is not. But the impression is not nothing: a family choosing the C spelling is choosing to be near Callista, Calliope and the apple of discord, and readers who know those words will make the connection unprompted. That is how names acquire histories they do not have. Calise's best year in United States records is 2015.
Meaningnot established
Not established
Calise has no inherited etymology. It is built from the Cal- opening and the French -ise ending of Elise and Denise. The Greek kallos, beauty, and its superlative kalliste are genuine words that produced Callista and Calliope, but they are not the source of this name; the resemblance is a product of the C spelling rather than of descent.
Pronouncing Calise
kuh-LEESE
Two syllables with the stress at the end and a soft s. Some families say kuh-LEEZ with a z, and the spelling does not settle between them.
Nicknames for Calise
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
- 1979
- Most girls named
- 201532 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #4403reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −11.1%16 in 2025, from 18
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.
Calise in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kalise in English — spelling variant
- Calisse in English — spelling variant
Calises among us
people named Calise are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 100,454 born in 2025 was named Calise
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Calise
- #6838
- Calise on the 2025 chart
- #911
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Calise went to 16 girls in 2025, but Kalise, Khalise and Kalyse are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 49, which makes it the 911th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,927 places above the chart.
- Kalise18
- Calise16
- Khalise9
- Kalyse6
About 1 girl in 32,801 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 100,454 for Calise 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 Samiha test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Calise's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Samiha climbed just as high around 2000, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Samiha's path sketches the road Calise is walking now.
Calise 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
Calise beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Calise in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- End-stressed, which is uncommon in American girls' names.
- Cali and Lise are both usable short forms with their own records.
- The C spelling gives it a classical look the K version lacks.
- The s or z question at the end has no settled answer.
- Kalise and Calise split the records between them.
- The Greek resemblance is a look rather than an origin.
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What they receive
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Calise
Feminine · #6838 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Calises 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 Calise are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Calise?
- Calise is one of 4 recorded spellings. Kalise is the more common one — 18 births in 2025 against 16 for Calise.
- How popular is the name Calise in 2025?
- Calise ranks #6838 among US girl names in 2025, with 16 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Calise?
- About 1 in every 100,454 US girls born in 2025 was named Calise — 16 in all.
- Will my child share the name Calise with classmates?
- Calise will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Calise
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Malana#6838 · Jeannie#6838 · Maxie#6838 · Nicol#6838 · Chaney#6838 · Keana#6838 · Concetta#6838 · Pheobe#6838
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Calise? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Calise and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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