Callie
Feminine diminutive of the Greek name Calista, meaning "most beautiful".
Name Census estimates that about 52,824 living Americans carry the first name Callie. It sits at #176 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (99.1% of registrations). The average person named Callie today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Callie births was 2014 (1,762 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Callie. 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
- • Although Callie is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 637 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
53K
~ 1 in 6,489 Americans
Peak year
2014
1,762 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2021 SSA rank
#176
Tracked since 1880
Gender
Gender distribution for Callie
Out of the 69,066 babies given the name Callie since 1880, 99.1% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Callie as a male name
- Ranked #12,442 in 2021
- 5 male births in 2021
- Peak: 1920 (19 births)
Callie as a female name
- Ranked #176 in 2024
- 1,708 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (1,762 births)
Popularity
Callie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Callie from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 15,501 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Callie remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Callie 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 Callie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Callies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. Texas, California, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Callie, while District of Columbia, Alaska, Vermont recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,158 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Callie
The name Callie is a diminutive form of the feminine name Callista, which originates from the Greek language. Callista is derived from the Greek word "kallos," meaning "beauty." This name was popular in ancient Greece and Rome, where physical beauty was highly valued and celebrated.
One of the earliest recorded mentions of the name Callista can be found in the ancient Roman novel "The Golden Ass" by Apuleius, written in the 2nd century AD. In this work, Callista is the name of a character described as a beautiful and virtuous young woman.
The name Callie gained popularity in the English-speaking world during the 19th century as a shortened form of Callista. It was particularly common in the United States, where it was often given to girls as a nod to their perceived beauty or as a reflection of their parents' admiration for the ancient Greek ideals of physical perfection.
One notable historical figure with the name Callie was Callie House (1889-1988), an American actress and vaudeville performer who was active in the early 20th century. She starred in several Broadway productions and silent films during her career.
Another famous Callie was Callie Russell Porter (1897-1976), an American painter and printmaker known for her landscapes and depictions of rural life in the American South. Her works are held in the collections of major museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
In the literary world, Callie Mercer (1936-2021) was a Canadian author and playwright whose works often explored themes of identity, family, and the experiences of women. Her novel "Leaving Home" won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction in 1976.
Callie Lipton (1889-1962) was an American social worker and activist who played a significant role in establishing the field of medical social work. She worked tirelessly to improve healthcare access and support services for underprivileged communities.
Lastly, Callie House Holtzendorff (1878-1952) was an American educator and advocate for women's education. She served as the president of Georgia Female College (now Wesleyan College) from 1918 to 1942 and was instrumental in expanding educational opportunities for women in the South during the early 20th century.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Callie
People
Callie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Callie 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
Callie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Callie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 52,824 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Callie 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 6,489 US residents.
Is Callie a common name?
We classify Callie as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 69,066 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Callie most popular?
The single biggest year for Callie was 2014, when 1,762 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Callie is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Callie a female name?
Yes, 99.1% of people registered as Callie 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.
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.