Cali
A feminine name derived from California, meaning "hot furnace".
Name Census estimates that about 22,910 living Americans carry the first name Cali. It sits at #495 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (98.3% of registrations). The average person named Cali today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Cali births was 2014 (1,687 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Cali. 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 Cali with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Cali is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 388 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • Cali is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 14 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
23K
~ 1 in 14,961 Americans
Peak year
2014
1,687 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#495
Tracked since 1959
Census
Cali in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 16,912 people with the first name Cali, which placed it at #1,775 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
#1,775
National first-name rank
People counted
17K
16,912 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
5.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Cali
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cali is White at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.6%) and Hispanic (14.8%). 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 Cali 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 Cali at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.8% · 9,939
- Black or African American16.6% · 2,808
- Hispanic or Latino14.8% · 2,509
- Two or more races7.0% · 1,189
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 295
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 172
Gender
Gender distribution for Cali
Cali leans heavily female at 98.3% of total registrations, but 388 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Cali as a male name
- Ranked #6,210 in 2024
- 14 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2020 (51 births)
Cali as a female name
- Ranked #495 in 2024
- 618 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (1,663 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cali leans strongly female. 16,570 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 348 male bearers (2.1%).
Popularity
Cali: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Cali from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 11,706 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Cali remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Cali 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 Cali during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Calis live
The SSA's state-level files cover 49 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Cali, while South Dakota, Alaska, Montana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 425 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Cali
The name Cali originated from the Latin word "calidus," which means "warm" or "hot." It is believed to have been derived from the name of the ancient city of Calydon in Greece, which was renowned for its hot springs and thermal baths.
In ancient Roman times, the name Cali was commonly used as a nickname or shortened form of the names Calidius or Calidius. It was particularly popular among families from the regions of Campania and Calabria in southern Italy, where the climate was typically warm and sunny.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Cali can be found in the writings of the Roman historian Livy, who mentioned a soldier named Cali Valerius who fought in the Punic Wars against Carthage in the 3rd century BC.
During the Middle Ages, the name Cali became associated with Saint Calixta, a Roman martyr who lived in the 2nd century AD. Her name, derived from the Greek word "kallos" meaning "beautiful," was often confused with the Latin "calidus," leading to the popularity of the name Cali among Christian families in Europe.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Cali. One of the most famous was Cali Orsini (1504-1558), an Italian noblewoman and patron of the arts, who was renowned for her beauty and intellect. Another was Cali ibn Yahya (815-901), an Arab mathematician and astronomer from Baghdad, who made significant contributions to the development of algebra and trigonometry.
In the 16th century, the Spanish explorer and conquistador Cali Hernández (1495-1567) played a pivotal role in the conquest of Mexico, serving as a lieutenant under Hernán Cortés. Cali Hernández was also known for his efforts to protect the rights of indigenous populations in the Americas.
More recently, Cali Ruchkys (1925-2003) was a renowned Lithuanian artist and sculptor, known for her abstract and modernist works. Cali Timmins (1934-2016) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist, who made significant contributions to various charitable organizations and educational institutions.
While the name Cali has its roots in ancient civilizations, it has maintained its popularity and cultural significance throughout the ages, reflecting the enduring appeal of warmth, beauty, and intellectual pursuits.
People
Cali + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Cali 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
Cali: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Cali?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 22,910 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Cali 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 14,961 US residents.
Is Cali a common name?
We classify Cali as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 23,200 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Cali most popular?
The single biggest year for Cali was 2014, when 1,687 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Cali is about 14 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Cali in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 16,912 people with the name Cali, or 5.60 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,775 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 Cali 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 Cali?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Cali leans strongly female. 16,570 people counted with this name were female (97.9%), compared with 348 male bearers (2.1%). 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 Cali?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Cali is White at 58.8%. The next largest groups are Black (16.6%) and Hispanic (14.8%). 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 Cali most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Cali in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.8% (9,939 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 Cali in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Cali a female name?
Yes, 98.3% of people registered as Cali 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 Cali still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Cali 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 Cali 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 Americans are named Cali?
See how many people share the name Cali on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.