Kalub
Masculine · “dog”
Kalub writes a Hebrew name the way an American ear receives it, replacing the c that every standard spelling uses. The English word its letters approach came into the language from Arabic by way of the gun trade.
How old is the name Kalub?
Kalub first appears in US birth records in 1981 — 44 years ago. The typical Kalub alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 700 people named Kalub are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kalub most popular?
Kalub peaked in 2002, reaching #2195 nationally. See the whole 2002 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kalev to Kalub
The story of Kalub
The caliber of a gun barrel is an Arabic word for a mold. Qalib meant a form or a last — the shaped block a shoemaker builds a shoe around — and it passed into Italian and French as the word for the mold a cannonball was cast in, and then for the diameter of the ball itself, and then for the bore of the barrel that fired it. From there it became the general measurement, and from there the metaphor: a man of high caliber is being described in terms of gun bores. The word may itself go back through Arabic to a Greek word for a shoemaker's last, which would make it a very well-traveled object. Caliph, which looks related, is a completely different word meaning a successor.
Meaningscholars disagree
dog, or whole-hearted
The Hebrew word for a dog is the obvious source and has been taken as an insult and as a compliment by different commentators, since a dog in that culture could mean loyal as easily as contemptible. An alternative reading splits the name into elements meaning whole and heart. Neither has won.
How the name formed
- Kalev
- Caleb
- Kalub
Related forms: Kalev · Caleb
Pronouncing Kalub
KAY-lub
Two syllables with the stress at the front. The k and the u are both phonetic substitutions; the name is said exactly as the standard spelling is.
Nicknames for Kalub
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
- 1981
- Most boys named
- 200248 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2195reached in 2002
- Change vs 2019
- +33.3%8 in 2021, from 6
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.
Kalub in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Kalev in Hebrew — same name
- Caleb in Spanish — same name
Kalubs among us
people named Kalub are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Kalub sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- Kal comes off it as a short form and needs no explanation.
- Two syllables with front stress is the plainest shape English has.
- The spelling is written as it sounds, which the standard one is not.
- Caleb is overwhelmingly the standard spelling and this will be corrected constantly.
- Both changes are inaudible, so the spelling must be given aloud every time.
- The name's meaning is contested and one reading of it is not flattering.
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What they receive
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Kalub
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Kalubs 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 Kalub are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Kalub in 2025?
- Kalub is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Kalub with classmates?
- Kalub will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More K names
The most-given names starting with K, all years combined.
Kenneth#294 · Kevin#221 · Kyle#508 · Keith#800 · Karl#1585 · Kaleb#295 · Kurt#2258 · Kelly#1867
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kalub? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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