Kalel
Biblical Hebrew masculine name meaning "the voice of God".
Name Census estimates that about 4,196 living Americans carry the first name Kalel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Kalel today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kalel births was 2014 (257 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kalel. 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
- • Kalel is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 12 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.2K
~ 1 in 81,686 Americans
Peak year
2014
257 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,126
Tracked since 1996
Gender
Gender distribution for Kalel
Out of the 4,231 babies given the name Kalel since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Kalel as a male name
- Ranked #1,126 in 2024
- 188 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2014 (257 births)
Kalel as a female name
- Ranked #10,095 in 2019
- 10 female births in 2019
- Peak: 2019 (10 births)
Popularity
Kalel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kalel from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 2,156 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Kalel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Kalel 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 Kalel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kalels live
The SSA's state-level files cover 30 states and territories. California, Texas, Florida recorded the most babies named Kalel, while South Carolina, New Mexico, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 96 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kalel
The given name Kalel is believed to have originated from the Kryptonian language, a fictional tongue created for the planet Krypton in the DC Comics universe. It is the birth name of the superhero character Superman, whose real name is Kal-El.
The name Kal-El first appeared in the debut of Superman in Action Comics #1, published in April 1938. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster. The name was likely inspired by Hebrew words like "El," meaning "God," and possibly combined with the word "Kal," meaning "voice" or "sound."
While Kal-El is not a real name with a historical or cultural origin, it has become iconic and closely associated with the Superman character. Some notable fictitious characters named Kal-El throughout the years include:
1. Kal-El, the original Superman from the planet Krypton, as introduced in 1938.
2. Kal-El, the infant son of Superman and Lois Lane in the 1990s comic book storyline "The Death of Superman."
3. Kal-El, the grandson of Superman in the comic book series "Superman & Batman: Generations."
4. Kal-El, the son of Superman and Lois Lane in the animated series "Superman: The Animated Series."
5. Kal-El, the son of Superman and Lois Lane in the movie "Superman Returns" (2006).
While the name Kal-El has no real-world historical significance, it has become a cultural touchstone and an integral part of the Superman mythos, representing the character's origins and identity as the last son of Krypton.
People
Kalel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kalel as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with K
Other first names starting with K with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Kalel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kalel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,196 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kalel 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 81,686 US residents.
Is Kalel a common name?
We classify Kalel as "Rare". It ranks above 96.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,231 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kalel most popular?
The single biggest year for Kalel was 2014, when 257 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kalel is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Kalel a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Kalel 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.