Kaileb
Masculine · “Hebrew kelev”
The text calls Caleb a Kenizzite, which is an odd thing to call an Israelite hero. Kenaz is listed elsewhere as an Edomite clan, so the man who inherited Hebron may have come from an outside group that was absorbed.
How old is the name Kaileb?
Kaileb first appears in US birth records in 1989 — 36 years ago. The typical Kaileb alive today was born around 2009, making them about 16 years old. About 800 people named Kaileb are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaileb most popular?
Kaileb peaked in 2009, reaching #2203 nationally. Today it ranks #10695, 8,492 places below that high. See the whole 2009 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kelev to Kaileb
The story of Kaileb
The Hebrew Bible is more candid about incorporation than later tradition became. Caleb, one of the two scouts who urged the invasion and one of the two men of his generation to survive it, is repeatedly given the epithet Kenizzite, and Kenaz is elsewhere an Edomite name; his descendants are the Calebites, associated with Hebron and the southern hill country, an area that historians think was settled by groups distinct from those that came out of the north. The name meaning dog fits that picture too, since it is not a name an Israelite writer would have coined for a hero. The story preserved the man and the awkward details around him, which is a good sign that they are old.
Meaningscholars disagree
Hebrew kelev, dog
Caleb is generally connected to kelev, a dog. The book of Numbers describes him as son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Kenaz appears in Genesis among the descendants of Esau, which has led scholars to read the Caleb clan as a non-Israelite group incorporated into Judah. Kaileb is an American respelling; its peak is 2009.
How the name formed
- Kelev
- Caleb
- Kaileb
Related forms: Caleb · Kalev
Pronouncing Kaileb
KAY-lub
Two syllables, stress on the first. Caleb, Kalob and Kaileb are homophones; the endings are all schwas.
Nicknames for Kaileb
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
- 1989
- Most boys named
- 200960 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2203reached in 2009
- Change vs 2024
- −14.3%6 in 2025, from 7
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.
Kaileb in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caleb in English — spelling variant
- Kalev in Hebrew — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York.
Kailebs among us
people named Kaileb are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 284,679 born in 2025 was named Kaileb
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaileb
- #10695
- Kaileb on the 2025 chart
- #882
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaileb went to 6 boys in 2025, but Kayleb and Cayleb are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 46, which makes it the 882nd most-given boys’ name of the year — 9,813 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 37,132 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 284,679 for Kaileb 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 Avram test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaileb's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Avram climbed just as high around 1971, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Avram's path sketches the road Kaileb is walking now.
Kaileb 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
Kaileb beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaileb in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Cal and Kai are two short forms in very different styles.
- The biblical figure is unusually well documented.
- Two syllables with a firm opening.
- Caleb is the standard spelling by an enormous margin.
- The ai digraph dates the respelling to the 2000s.
- The likely meaning is dog.
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Kaileb
Masculine · #10695 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kailebs 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 Kaileb are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaileb?
- Kaileb is one of 3 recorded spellings. Kayleb is the more common one — 31 births in 2025 against 6 for Kaileb.
- How popular is the name Kaileb in 2025?
- Kaileb ranks #10695 among US boy names in 2025, with 6 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaileb?
- About 1 in every 284,679 US boys born in 2025 was named Kaileb — 6 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaileb with classmates?
- Kaileb will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaileb
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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