Callaway
A masculine name derived from a Scottish surname referring to a place name.
Name Census estimates that about 1,030 living Americans carry the first name Callaway. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 53.0% of registrations being male. The average person named Callaway today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Callaway births was 2024 (125 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Callaway. 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
- • Callaway sits in rare territory as a truly gender-neutral name, given to boys and girls in near-equal numbers.
- • Callaway is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 332,771 Americans
Peak year
2024
125 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,167
Tracked since 1994
Gender
Gender distribution for Callaway
Callaway is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 1,039 total registrations, 551 (53.0%) were male and 488 (47.0%) were female.
Callaway as a male name
- Ranked #2,167 in 2024
- 67 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (67 births)
Callaway as a female name
- Ranked #2,848 in 2024
- 58 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (58 births)
Popularity
Callaway: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Callaway from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 463 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Callaway 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 Callaway during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Callaways live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Georgia recorded the most babies named Callaway, while North Carolina, Indiana, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 18 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Callaway
The name Callaway is believed to have originated from the Old French words "calu" and "wei," which together mean "bare way" or "bald way." This suggests that the name may have been used to describe someone who lived near a path or road that was devoid of vegetation or trees.
In the early medieval period, the name was commonly found in regions of northern France and parts of modern-day Belgium. Some of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in historical records from the 11th and 12th centuries, where it was spelled variations like "Caluwei," "Caluwey," and "Caluweye."
One of the earliest known individuals with this name was a Norman knight named Callaway de Montfort, who participated in the First Crusade in the late 11th century. He is mentioned in several chronicles and accounts of the crusades, and is believed to have been born around 1070 and died sometime after 1099.
Another notable bearer of the name was Callaway de Vere, a 13th-century English nobleman and landowner from Essex. He was a prominent figure during the reign of King Henry III and was involved in several political and military events of the time. Callaway de Vere was born around 1210 and died in 1279.
In the 14th century, there was a French poet and troubadour named Callaway de Montpellier, who was known for his lyrical compositions and love songs. He lived in the region of Languedoc and was active during the years 1330-1380, though his exact birth and death dates are uncertain.
During the Renaissance period, a Italian painter named Callaway Veronese gained recognition for his religious and mythological works. He was born in Verona in 1528 and died in Venice in 1588, leaving behind a significant body of artistic works that can be found in various churches and museums across Italy.
In more recent times, one of the most famous individuals with the name Callaway was the American golfer Callaway Eldrick Woods, better known as Tiger Woods. He was born in 1975 and has had a highly successful professional career, winning numerous major championships and becoming one of the most recognizable athletes in the world.
People
Callaway + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Callaway 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
Callaway: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Callaway?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,030 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Callaway 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 332,771 US residents.
Is Callaway a common name?
We classify Callaway as "Rare". It ranks above 90.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,039 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Callaway most popular?
The single biggest year for Callaway was 2024, when 125 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Callaway is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Callaway a male name?
Yes, 53.0% of people registered as Callaway 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.
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.