Kalvin
Masculine · “bald”
Kalvin respells Calvin, and the Latin behind it is bald — calvus, applied as a nickname to some ancestor and carried by the theologian who never lived it down.
How old is the name Kalvin?
Kalvin first appears in US birth records in 1933 — 92 years ago. The typical Kalvin alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 6,400 people named Kalvin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kalvin most popular?
Kalvin peaked in 1988, reaching #907 nationally. Today it ranks #1564, 657 places below that high. See the whole 1988 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From calvus to Kalvin
The story of Kalvin
John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion shaped Protestant theology across Europe and the Americas, and Protestant families took his surname as a given name from the seventeenth century. Calvin Coolidge repeated the effect in America. The K respelling appears in the American registers from the 1960s and is in current use.
Meaning
bald, little bald one
From the Latin calvus, 'bald', through the French Cauvin and Calvin — a descriptive surname of the ordinary kind. Jean Calvin's family name is documented in Picardy well before him. The word is ordinary Latin and the meaning is not in doubt.
How the name formed
- calvus
- Cauvin
- Calvin
- Kalvin
Related forms: Calvin · Cauvin · Calvino
Pronouncing Kalvin
KAL-vin
Two syllables, stress on the first. Kalvin and Calvin are said identically.
Nicknames for Kalvin
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
- 1933
- Most boys named
- 2017177 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #907reached in 1988
- Change vs 2023
- +22.5%109 in 2025, from 89
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.
Kalvin in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Calvin in English — spelling variant
- Cauvin in French — related form
- Calvino in Spanish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Kalvins among us
people named Kalvin are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 15,670 born in 2025 was named Kalvin
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kalvin
- #1564
- Kalvin on the 2025 chart
- #130
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kalvin went to 109 boys in 2025, but Calvin is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 2,819, which makes it the 130th most-given boys’ name of the year — 1,434 places above the chart.
- Calvin2,710
- Kalvin109
About 1 boy in 606 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 15,670 for Kalvin 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 Garey test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kalvin's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Garey climbed just as high around 1952, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Garey's path sketches the road Kalvin is walking now.
Kalvin 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
Where Kalvin is headed
Kalvin is easing off slowly — about 22% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium 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.
Kalvin beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kalvin in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is transparent, undisputed and refreshingly unglamorous.
- A theologian who reshaped European history carries it.
- Kal is a short form with real modern currency.
- Calvin is much the commoner spelling and will be assumed.
- The bald meaning is plainer than most families expect.
- A comic strip and a fashion label both carry it strongly.
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Kalvin
Masculine · #1564 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kalvins are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,400 people named Kalvin are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kalvin?
- Kalvin is one of 2 recorded spellings. Calvin is the more common one — 2,710 births in 2025 against 109 for Kalvin.
- How popular is the name Kalvin in 2025?
- Kalvin ranks #1564 among US boy names in 2025, with 109 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kalvin?
- About 1 in every 15,670 US boys born in 2025 was named Kalvin — 109 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kalvin with classmates?
- Kalvin will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kalvin
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Terrance#1564 · Kamdyn#1564 · Dwayne#1564 · Payton#1564 · Kacen#1564 · Abdulrahman#1564 · Jiovanni#1571 · Vivaan#1571
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kalvin? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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