Cayleb
A masculine name of English origin, a variant spelling of Caleb, meaning "devoted" or "whole-hearted".
Name Census estimates that about 1,015 living Americans carry the first name Cayleb. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Cayleb today is around 17 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cayleb births was 2009 (81 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cayleb. 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 Cayleb with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Cayleb is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 17 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 337,689 Americans
Peak year
2009
81 babies that year
Average age
17
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,308
Tracked since 1989
Census
Cayleb in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 846 people with the first name Cayleb, which placed it at #14,041 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
#14,041
National first-name rank
People counted
846
846 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cayleb
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cayleb is White at 57.7%. The next largest groups are Black (15.5%) and Hispanic (13.5%). 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 Cayleb 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 Cayleb at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.7% · 488
- Black or African American15.5% · 131
- Hispanic or Latino13.5% · 114
- Two or more races8.4% · 71
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 35
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 7
Popularity
Cayleb: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cayleb 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 442 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cayleb 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 Cayleb during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caylebs live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Cayleb, while Oklahoma, Kentucky, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 26 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cayleb
The name Cayleb is a modern variation of the name Caleb, which has its origins in the Hebrew language. The name Caleb is derived from the Hebrew word "kelev," meaning "dog" or "whole-hearted." It is believed to have originated in the ancient Middle East region, particularly in the land of Canaan, which is now known as modern-day Israel and Palestine.
Caleb is a biblical name, appearing in the Old Testament of the Bible. In the Book of Numbers, Caleb is one of the twelve spies sent by Moses to scout the land of Canaan. He and Joshua were the only two spies who remained faithful and believed that the Israelites could conquer the land with God's help. As a result, Caleb was rewarded with a portion of the land in the region of Hebron.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Caleb can be found in the Hebrew Bible, which dates back to around the 6th century BCE. However, the name's popularity and usage have varied across different cultures and time periods.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Caleb or its variations. One of the earliest examples is Caleb Pusey (1651-1727), an English Quaker who emigrated to Pennsylvania and became a prominent landowner and judge in the colony.
Another notable Caleb was Caleb Cushing (1800-1879), an American lawyer, diplomat, and politician who served as the United States Attorney General under President Franklin Pierce.
In the realm of literature, Caleb Williams is the title character of the novel "Caleb Williams" by William Godwin, published in 1794. The novel explores themes of social injustice and the pursuit of truth.
More recently, Caleb Carr (born 1955) is an American novelist and military historian, best known for his novel "The Alienist," which was adapted into a television series.
Caleb Plant (born 1992) is an American professional boxer who has held multiple world championships in the super middleweight division.
While the name Cayleb is a modern variation, it is important to note that it is not as widely used or recorded throughout history as the original Hebrew name Caleb. However, the name's biblical and historical significance, as well as its meaning of "whole-hearted" or "faithful," have contributed to its enduring popularity across various cultures and time periods.
People
Cayleb + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cayleb 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
Cayleb: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cayleb?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,015 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cayleb 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 337,689 US residents.
Is Cayleb a common name?
We classify Cayleb as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,026 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cayleb most popular?
The single biggest year for Cayleb was 2009, when 81 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cayleb is about 17 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cayleb in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 846 people with the name Cayleb, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,041 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 Cayleb 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 Cayleb?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cayleb appears almost entirely male. Of the 849 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Cayleb?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cayleb is White at 57.7%. The next largest groups are Black (15.5%) and Hispanic (13.5%). 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 Cayleb most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cayleb in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.7% (488 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 Cayleb in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cayleb a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Cayleb 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 Cayleb still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cayleb 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 Cayleb 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 are named Cayleb?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.