Calder
Originating from the English name for a stream or river dweller.
Name Census estimates that about 2,082 living Americans carry the first name Calder. It is a predominantly male name (98.2% of registrations). The average person named Calder today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Calder births was 2016 (120 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Calder. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Calder with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Calder is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 15 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
2.1K
~ 1 in 164,627 Americans
Peak year
2016
120 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,991
Tracked since 1980
Census
Calder in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,696 people with the first name Calder, which placed it at #8,542 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#8,542
National first-name rank
People counted
1.7K
1,696 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Calder
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Calder is White at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.5%) and Hispanic (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Calder described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Calder at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.7% · 1,436
- Two or more races7.5% · 127
- Hispanic or Latino4.4% · 74
- Black or African American1.7% · 28
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 28
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Calder
Calder leans heavily male at 98.2% of total registrations, but 37 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Calder as a male name
- Ranked #1,991 in 2024
- 77 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (120 births)
Calder as a female name
- Ranked #15,557 in 2020
- 5 female births in 2020
- Peak: 2005 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Calder leans strongly male. 1,617 people counted with this name were male (95.2%), compared with 82 female bearers (4.8%).
Popularity
Calder: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Calder from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 876 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Calder remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Calder by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Calder during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Calders live
The SSA's state-level files cover 17 states and territories. California, New York, Texas recorded the most babies named Calder, while Michigan, Massachusetts, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 35 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Calder
The name Calder is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "cald" meaning "cold" and "er" meaning "dweller", thus referring to someone who lived in a cold or exposed place. This name first emerged in the Middle Ages, around the 11th or 12th century, in the northern regions of England, particularly in areas like Yorkshire and Lancashire.
One of the earliest recorded instances of this name dates back to the 13th century, when a certain Calder de Beuerl was mentioned in the Assize Rolls of Yorkshire in 1219. The name also appeared in various medieval records and charters from that period, indicating its usage among the English population.
In the 16th century, the name gained some prominence with the Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Calder (1533-1592), who made significant contributions to the field of mathematics and was instrumental in the adoption of the decimal point notation in arithmetic.
Another notable figure bearing this name was Sir Robert Calder (1745-1818), a British naval officer who served during the Napoleonic Wars. He is particularly remembered for his role in the Battle of Cape Finisterre in 1805, where he led the British fleet against the combined French and Spanish naval forces.
In the realm of literature, the name Calder is associated with the Scottish poet and novelist James Calder (1824-1884), whose works explored themes of rural Scottish life and the struggles of the working class.
The 20th century saw the rise of the American sculptor Alexander Calder (1898-1976), renowned for his innovative kinetic sculptures and mobiles. His unique artistic style and contributions to modern art have made him one of the most celebrated artists of his time.
Lastly, the name Calder also gained recognition in the field of astronomy with the British astronomer Nigel Calder (1931-2014), who made significant contributions to the understanding of black holes and the evolution of the universe through his popular science writings and television programs.
People
Calder + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Calder as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with C
Other first names starting with C with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Calder: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Calder?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 2,082 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Calder going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 164,627 US residents.
Is Calder a common name?
We classify Calder as "Rare". It ranks above 93.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,107 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Calder most popular?
The single biggest year for Calder was 2016, when 120 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Calder is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Calder in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,696 people with the name Calder, or 0.56 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #8,542 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Calder in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Calder?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Calder leans strongly male. 1,617 people counted with this name were male (95.2%), compared with 82 female bearers (4.8%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Calder?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Calder is White at 84.7%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (7.5%) and Hispanic (4.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Calder most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Calder in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.7% (1,436 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Calder in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Calder a male name?
Yes, 98.2% of people registered as Calder in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Calder still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Calder in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Calder can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Calder?
Find out how many people share the name Calder on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.