Caelen
A name of Celtic origin meaning "fighter" or "slender".
Name Census estimates that about 596 living Americans carry the first name Caelen. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Caelen today is around 18 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Caelen births was 2009 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Caelen. 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 Caelen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
596
~ 1 in 575,091 Americans
Peak year
2009
44 babies that year
Average age
18
years old
2024 SSA rank
#6,875
Tracked since 1993
Census
Caelen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 586 people with the first name Caelen, which placed it at #18,401 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
#18,401
National first-name rank
People counted
586
586 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Caelen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caelen is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.6%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Caelen 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 Caelen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.2% · 394
- Two or more races11.6% · 68
- Hispanic or Latino8.5% · 50
- Black or African American8.2% · 48
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.9% · 23
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 3
Gender
Gender distribution for Caelen
Caelen leans heavily male at 88.9% of total registrations, but 67 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Caelen as a male name
- Ranked #6,875 in 2024
- 12 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2009 (39 births)
Caelen as a female name
- Ranked #14,665 in 2016
- 6 female births in 2016
- Peak: 2003 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Caelen on both sides of the split. Of the 580 people counted with this name, 463 were male (79.8%) and 117 were female (20.2%).
Popularity
Caelen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Caelen from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 291 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Caelen 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 Caelen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Caelens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Caelen
The name Caelen is derived from the Gaelic language, originating in Ireland and Scotland. It is a variant spelling of the name Caelan, which itself is a diminutive form of the name Cael, an Irish variant of the name Michael. The name Cael is believed to have derived from the Hebrew name Mikhail, meaning "who is like God."
The earliest recorded use of the name Caelen dates back to the late 20th century. While the name is relatively modern, it has roots in ancient Gaelic and Hebrew cultures. Its connection to the name Michael ties it to various religious and historical references associated with that name.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Caelen was Caelen Barnes, an American actor born in 1997. He is best known for his roles in the TV series "The Game" and the film "Moneyball." Another early bearer of the name was Caelen Philips, a Canadian soccer player born in 1998, who played professionally for various clubs in Canada and the United States.
In the literary world, Caelen Harding is a contemporary American author known for her young adult fantasy novels, including the "Faewyn Chronicles" series. She was born in 1989. Caelen King, born in 1991, is a British singer-songwriter and musician who has released several albums and toured extensively.
One of the most notable historical figures with the name Caelen is Caelen Mulholland, an Irish revolutionary born in 1898. He was a prominent member of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and participated in the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. Mulholland was executed by the Irish Free State government in 1923 for his involvement in the civil war.
While the name Caelen is relatively modern, its roots in ancient cultures and languages, as well as its connection to the name Michael, give it a rich historical background. Its popularity has grown in recent decades, and it has been borne by notable individuals in various fields, including acting, sports, literature, and music.
People
Caelen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Caelen 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
Caelen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Caelen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 596 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Caelen 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 575,091 US residents.
Is Caelen a common name?
We classify Caelen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 603 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Caelen most popular?
The single biggest year for Caelen was 2009, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Caelen is about 18 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Caelen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 586 people with the name Caelen, or 0.19 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #18,401 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 Caelen 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 Caelen?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Caelen on both sides of the split. Of the 580 people counted with this name, 463 were male (79.8%) and 117 were female (20.2%). 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 Caelen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Caelen is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (11.6%) and Hispanic (8.5%). 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 Caelen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Caelen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (394 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 Caelen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Caelen a male name?
Yes, 88.9% of people registered as Caelen 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 Caelen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Caelen 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 Caelen 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 Caelen?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.