Calil
A masculine Arabic name derived from the word "Khalil" meaning "friend" or "beloved".
Name Census estimates that about 211 living Americans carry the first name Calil. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Calil today is around 14 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Calil births was 2021 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Calil. 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.
People living today
211
~ 1 in 1,624,428 Americans
Peak year
2021
15 babies that year
Average age
14
years old
2024 SSA rank
#9,090
Tracked since 1997
Census
Calil in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 167 people with the first name Calil, which placed it at #42,759 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
#42,759
National first-name rank
People counted
167
167 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
70.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Calil
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Calil is Black at 70.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.6%) and Two or More Races (7.2%). 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 Calil 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 Calil at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American70.7% · 118
- Hispanic or Latino12.6% · 21
- Two or more races7.2% · 12
- White6.0% · 10
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.8% · 3
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 3
Popularity
Calil: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Calil 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 78 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Calil remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Calil 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 Calil during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Calils live
Origin
Meaning and history of Calil
The given name Calil originated from the Arabic language and culture. It is derived from the Arabic word "qalil," which means "little" or "small." The name likely emerged in the Middle East during the medieval period, around the 7th to 13th centuries.
Calil was a relatively uncommon name during the early Islamic era, but it gained some prominence in certain regions. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this name was Calil ibn Ishaq, a renowned scholar and philosopher who lived in Baghdad during the 9th century. He was known for his contributions to the fields of logic and metaphysics.
In the 11th century, a notable figure named Calil al-Rumi was born in the city of Rumi (now known as Antakya, Turkey). He was a Sufi mystic and poet whose works explored themes of spirituality and divine love. His poetry continues to be celebrated in various parts of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Another historical figure bearing the name Calil was Calil ibn Abi Bakr, a 12th-century physician from Andalusia (modern-day Spain). He was renowned for his expertise in ophthalmology and wrote several treatises on eye diseases and treatments.
In the 13th century, Calil al-Dimashqi was a prominent geographer and traveler from Damascus. He is best known for his detailed accounts of the regions he visited, including parts of the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia. His writings provided valuable insights into the geography, culture, and social customs of those areas during that time period.
Moving forward to the 16th century, Calil Bey was a notable Ottoman statesman and military leader. He served as the governor of various provinces within the Ottoman Empire and played a significant role in the expansion and consolidation of Ottoman power in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
While the name Calil was predominantly used in the Arab world and regions influenced by Islamic culture, it has also been adopted by other cultures and societies over time. However, its historical roots and earliest recorded instances can be traced back to the Arabic language and the medieval period in the Middle East.
People
Calil + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Calil 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
Calil: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Calil?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 211 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Calil 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 1,624,428 US residents.
Is Calil a common name?
We classify Calil as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 213 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Calil most popular?
The single biggest year for Calil was 2021, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Calil 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 Calil in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 167 people with the name Calil, or 0.06 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #42,759 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 Calil 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 Calil?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Calil leans strongly male. 159 people counted with this name were male (93.5%), compared with 11 female bearers (6.5%). 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 Calil?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Calil is Black at 70.7%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (12.6%) and Two or More Races (7.2%). 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 Calil most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Calil in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.7% (118 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 Calil in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Calil a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Calil 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 Calil still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Calil 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 Calil 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 have Calil as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people have the name Calil on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.