Calene
Calene is a feminine name derived from Greek origins meaning "serene" or "calm".
Name Census estimates that about 49 living Americans carry the first name Calene. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Calene today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Calene births was 1957 (8 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Calene. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Calene. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
49
~ 1 in 6,994,986 Americans
Peak year
1957
8 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
1994 SSA rank
#12,005
Tracked since 1937
Census
Calene in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 194 people with the first name Calene, which placed it at #39,126 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
#39,126
National first-name rank
People counted
194
194 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
68.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Calene
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Calene is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (17.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.6%). 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 Calene 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 Calene at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White68.6% · 133
- Black or African American17.5% · 34
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 9
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.1% · 6
- Two or more races2.6% · 5
Popularity
Calene: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Calene from the 1930s through to the 1990s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 32 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1950s peak, Calene remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Calene 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 Calene during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Calene
The name Calene is a relatively obscure one with uncertain origins. It may have its roots in the ancient Greek language, derived from the word "kallos," meaning beauty or beautiful. Some historians suggest it could be a variation of the more common name Callie or Calia, which is believed to have originated from the Greek word "kalos," also meaning beautiful.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Calene can be found in ancient Roman texts from the 1st century AD. It appears to have been the name of a slave girl mentioned briefly in Petronius' satirical work, the Satyricon. However, beyond this fleeting reference, there is little historical record of the name's usage during ancient times.
The name Calene seemingly disappeared from written records for several centuries until resurfacing in the Middle Ages. In the 12th century, a noblewoman named Calene de Montfort was mentioned in a French chronicle as the wife of a knight who fought in the Crusades. This suggests that the name may have had some limited usage among the aristocracy of medieval Europe.
It wasn't until the 16th century that the name gained a bit more prominence, at least in literary circles. Calene was the name of a character in the pastoral romance "Arcadia" by the English writer Sir Philip Sidney, published in 1590. Sidney's work popularized the name among the educated classes of the time, though it remained relatively uncommon.
One of the earliest recorded real-life individuals with the name Calene was an English artist born in 1678 named Calene Calvert. She gained some renown for her still-life paintings and portraits, though her work has largely been overshadowed by her more famous contemporaries.
Another notable figure with the name Calene was a French botanist and explorer who lived from 1733 to 1810. Calene de L'Estrées was one of the first European women to study and document the flora of the Caribbean islands, making significant contributions to the field of botany.
While the name Calene has never been particularly widespread, it has maintained a niche presence throughout history, appearing here and there in various contexts. Its roots may be shrouded in mystery, but its unique sound and possible connection to ancient ideals of beauty have ensured its continued, if limited, usage over the centuries.
People
Calene + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Calene 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
Calene: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Calene?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 49 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Calene 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 6,994,986 US residents.
Is Calene a common name?
We classify Calene as "Very Rare". It ranks above 54% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 65 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Calene most popular?
The single biggest year for Calene was 1957, when 8 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Calene is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Calene in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 194 people with the name Calene, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #39,126 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 Calene 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 Calene?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Calene appears almost entirely female. Of the 181 people counted with this name, 99.4% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Calene?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Calene is White at 68.6%. The next largest groups are Black (17.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.6%). 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 Calene most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Calene in the 2020 Census, accounting for 68.6% (133 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 Calene in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Calene a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Calene in the SSA data are female. 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 Calene still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Calene 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 Calene 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 common is the name Calene?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.