Kallum
Masculine · “dove”
Kallum is Callum respelled, and the Latin behind it is a dove — the bird Columba took as his name when he left Ireland to found the monastery on Iona.
How old is the name Kallum?
Kallum first appears in US birth records in 2007 — 18 years ago. The typical Kallum is a kid of about 3 — this name's wave is very recent. About 700 people named Kallum are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kallum most popular?
Kallum peaked in 2025, reaching #1520 nationally. Today it ranks #1520, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Kallum appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From columba to Kallum
The story of Kallum
Columba left Ireland in 563 and founded the monastery on Iona from which much of Scotland and northern England was converted. Gaelic made Calum from his Latin name, and Malcolm — Máel Coluim, 'devotee of Columba' — from it too. Callum rose sharply in Britain from the 1990s, and the K respelling followed; Kallum is in current use.
Meaning
dove
From the Latin columba, 'dove', through the Gaelic Calum. Saint Columba's name was a religious choice rather than a birth name; the dove is the bird of the Holy Spirit in Christian iconography. The Latin word is ordinary and the meaning undisputed.
How the name formed
- columba
- Columba
- Calum
- Kallum
Related forms: Calum · Callum · Colm
Pronouncing Kallum
KAL-um
Two syllables, stress on the first. Kallum, Callum and Calum are said identically.
Nicknames for Kallum
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
- 2007
- Most boys named
- 2025114 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1520reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +25.3%114 in 2025, from 91
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.
Kallum in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Calum in Scottish — related form
- Callum in English — spelling variant
- Colm in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Indiana, California.
Kallums among us
people named Kallum are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 14,983 born in 2025 was named Kallum
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kallum
- #1520
- Kallum on the 2025 chart
- #108
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kallum went to 114 boys in 2025, but Callum, Calum and Kalum are the same name said out loud. Together the 4 spellings went to 3,445, which makes it the 108th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,412 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 496 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 14,983 for Kallum 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 Anastasios test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kallum's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Anastasios climbed just as high around 1974, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Anastasios's path sketches the road Kallum is walking now.
Kallum is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Kallum is headed
Kallum looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 32% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. 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.
Kallum beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kallum in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The dove meaning is concrete, transparent and undisputed.
- A genuinely consequential missionary saint stands behind it.
- Cal is a short, clean, immediately available form.
- Callum is much the commoner spelling and Calum is the Gaelic one.
- It is far commoner in Britain than in America.
- It will be respelled by other people constantly.
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Kallum
Masculine · #1520 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kallums are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Kallum are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kallum?
- Kallum is one of 4 recorded spellings. Callum is the more common one — 2,995 births in 2025 against 114 for Kallum.
- How popular is the name Kallum in 2025?
- Kallum ranks #1520 among US boy names in 2025, with 114 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kallum?
- About 1 in every 14,983 US boys born in 2025 was named Kallum — 114 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kallum with classmates?
- Kallum will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kallum
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zakaria#1520 · Montana#1520 · Karmelo#1520 · Barry#1520 · Summit#1520 · Maxim#1520 · Tymir#1520 · Gilberto#1520
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kallum? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Kallum and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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