Kaleel
Masculine · “friend”
Abraham has a title in Islamic tradition: Khalilullah, the friend of God. Khalil is that word, friend or intimate companion, and it is one of the few names that describes a relationship rather than a quality. It says nothing about what the bearer is, only about who he is close to.
How old is the name Kaleel?
Kaleel first appears in US birth records in 1992 — 33 years ago. The typical Kaleel alive today was born around 2005, making them about 20 years old. About 500 people named Kaleel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kaleel most popular?
Kaleel peaked in 1995, reaching #2556 nationally. Today it ranks #6446, 3,890 places below that high. See the whole 1995 chart.
Where it comes from
From khalil to Kaleel
The story of Kaleel
Arabic kha is a sound English does not have, made at the back of the throat, and every transliteration into the Latin alphabet is a compromise: Khalil keeps a digraph that English readers routinely mispronounce, Kahlil transposes the letters, and Kaleel abandons the attempt and writes what an English speaker will actually say. The Lebanese-American writer of the Prophet spelled his own name Kahlil in English, which is a fourth solution again. Kaleel entered United States records with Arab-American families and reached its best year in 1995, and the spelling is the most phonetically honest and the least etymologically faithful of the group.
Meaning
friend, intimate companion
Arabic khalil, a close friend or bosom companion, from a root covering intimacy and permeation, the sense being a friendship that has gone all the way through. Abraham is called Khalilullah, the friend of God, in Islamic tradition, and the Quran uses the phrase directly. The spelling here has given up on the initial Arabic consonant, which English has no letter for.
How the name formed
- khalil
- Khalil
- Kaleel
Related forms: Khalil · Halil · Khalil · Khaleel
Pronouncing Kaleel
kah-LEEL
Two syllables with the stress at the end. The Arabic initial is a throat-scraped kh that this spelling drops entirely, which is exactly what it was designed to do.
Nicknames for Kaleel
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
- 1992
- Most boys named
- 199730 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2556reached in 1995
- Change vs 2024
- +85.7%13 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.
Kaleel in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Khalil in Arabic — transliteration
- Halil in Turkish — same name
- Khalil in Persian — same name
- Khaleel in Urdu — spelling variant
Kaleels among us
people named Kaleel are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 131,390 born in 2025 was named Kaleel
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kaleel
- #6446
- Kaleel on the 2025 chart
- #691
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kaleel went to 13 boys in 2025, but Kalel, Khaleel and Calel and the rest below are the same name said out loud. Together the 5 spellings went to 243, which makes it the 691st most-given boys’ name of the year — 5,755 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 7,029 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 131,390 for Kaleel 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 Damain test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kaleel's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Damain climbed just as high around 1977, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Damain's path sketches the road Kaleel is walking now.
Kaleel 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
Kaleel beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kaleel in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Arabic meaning and a title given to Abraham behind it.
- The spelling tells an English reader how to say it, which Khalil does not.
- Kal is a short, current and completely unremarkable everyday form.
- Khalil is the standard transliteration and will be written instead.
- The spelling loses the Arabic consonant, which Arabic-speaking relatives will notice.
- Kahlil, Khaleel and Kaleel all circulate in American records.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Kaleel to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Kaleel? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Kaleel
Masculine · #6446 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaleels 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 Kaleel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kaleel?
- Kaleel is one of 5 recorded spellings. Kalel is the more common one — 180 births in 2025 against 13 for Kaleel.
- How popular is the name Kaleel in 2025?
- Kaleel ranks #6446 among US boy names in 2025, with 13 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kaleel?
- About 1 in every 131,390 US boys born in 2025 was named Kaleel — 13 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kaleel with classmates?
- Kaleel will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kaleel
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rollie#6446 · Billie#6446 · Worth#6446 · Blas#6446 · Starling#6446 · Alvis#6446 · Elwyn#6446 · Rollin#6446
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kaleel? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kaleel and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
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
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle