Kayleb
Masculine · “dog”
Kayleb is a respelling of Caleb, a Hebrew name from the wilderness narratives — one of the two spies who came back from Canaan saying the land could be taken.
How old is the name Kayleb?
Kayleb first appears in US birth records in 1987 — 38 years ago. The typical Kayleb alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 2,400 people named Kayleb are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Kayleb most popular?
Kayleb peaked in 2010, reaching #1113 nationally. Today it ranks #3583, 2,470 places below that high. See the whole 2010 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Kalev to Kayleb
The story of Kayleb
Caleb and Joshua are the two scouts who bring back a minority report from Canaan, and the text repeatedly says Caleb followed wholly, which is where the second reading comes from. English Protestants took the name up after the Reformation and it was well used in colonial America. Its modern return is recent, and Kayleb, Kaleb and Caleb all appear in current records.
Meaningscholars disagree
dog, or whole-hearted
Two readings compete. The Hebrew kelev is a dog, and the name may be a clan or totem name of that kind. Alternatively it is read as a compound of kol, all, and lev, heart — whole-hearted — which fits the biblical description of the man exactly and may be a later interpretation.
How the name formed
- Kalev
- Caleb
- Kayleb
Related forms: Caleb · Kalev · Caleb
Pronouncing Kayleb
KAY-leb
Two syllables, first stressed. Every spelling of the name sounds the same.
Nicknames for Kayleb
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
- 1987
- Most boys named
- 2010171 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1113reached in 2010
- Change vs 2024
- +19.2%31 in 2025, from 26
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.
Kayleb in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Caleb in English — spelling variant
- Kalev in Hebrew — same name
- Caleb in Spanish — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Kaylebs among us
people named Kayleb are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 55,099 born in 2025 was named Kayleb
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Kayleb
- #3583
- Kayleb on the 2025 chart
- #882
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Kayleb went to 31 boys in 2025, but Cayleb and Kaileb 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 — 2,701 places above the chart.
About 1 boy in 37,132 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 55,099 for Kayleb 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 Modesto test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Kayleb's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Modesto climbed just as high around 1908, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Modesto's path sketches the road Kayleb is walking now.
Kayleb 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 Kayleb is headed
Kayleb is easing off slowly — about 29% 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.
Kayleb beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Kayleb in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A documented biblical name with a genuinely admirable story attached.
- Cal is a plain short form that works at any age.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Caleb is the standard spelling and Kaleb the common respelling; this is a third.
- The dog reading is the more likely one and is not what most people expect.
- The sound is widely used, so a classroom may hold more than one.
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Kayleb
Masculine · #3583 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Kaylebs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,400 people named Kayleb are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Kayleb?
- Kayleb is the most-used spelling in US records — 31 of the 46 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Cayleb and Kaileb.
- How popular is the name Kayleb in 2025?
- Kayleb ranks #3583 among US boy names in 2025, with 31 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Kayleb?
- About 1 in every 55,099 US boys born in 2025 was named Kayleb — 31 in all.
- Will my child share the name Kayleb with classmates?
- Kayleb will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Kayleb
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Geoffrey#3583 · Robinson#3583 · Kimani#3583 · Emre#3583 · Yoan#3583 · Anirudh#3583 · Sutter#3583 · Heber#3583
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Kayleb? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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