Kalliope
Of Greek origin meaning "beautiful voice" or "beautiful speaker".
Name Census estimates that about 1,175 living Americans carry the first name Kalliope. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Kalliope today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Kalliope births was 2021 (104 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Kalliope. 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 Kalliope with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Kalliope is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 291,706 Americans
Peak year
2021
104 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,311
Tracked since 1922
Census
Kalliope in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 830 people with the first name Kalliope, which placed it at #14,239 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
#14,239
National first-name rank
People counted
830
830 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Kalliope
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalliope is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.9%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Kalliope 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 Kalliope at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.5% · 627
- Hispanic or Latino13.9% · 115
- Two or more races7.0% · 58
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 14
- Black or African American1.1% · 9
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.8% · 7
Popularity
Kalliope: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Kalliope from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 529 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
Kalliope 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 Kalliope during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Kalliopes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 14 states and territories. Texas, California, Ohio recorded the most babies named Kalliope, while Washington, Missouri, Michigan recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 23 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Kalliope
Kalliope is a feminine given name with origins in ancient Greek mythology and language. The name derives from the Greek words "kalli" meaning "beautiful" and "ops" meaning "voice", essentially translating to "beautiful voice".
In Greek mythology, Kalliope was the chief of the nine Muses, the goddesses of music, song, and dance. She was the muse of epic poetry and was regarded as the most influential among her sisters, often depicted as the wisest and most authoritative figure.
The name Kalliope can be traced back to ancient Greek texts and literature, such as Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, where the Muses were frequently referenced and celebrated for their artistic inspiration and patronage of the arts.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Kalliope being used as a personal name dates back to the 5th century BC, when it was given to a Greek woman from the city of Ephesus. Throughout ancient Greek history, Kalliope remained a popular name, particularly among families who valued the arts and literature.
Notable historical figures named Kalliope include Kalliope of Syracuse, a Greek poet from the 3rd century BC, who was renowned for her lyric poetry. Another notable bearer of the name was Kalliope Kavvadias, a 19th-century Greek poet and feminist activist who fought for women's rights and education.
In the Renaissance period, the name Kalliope gained popularity among artists and intellectuals who drew inspiration from classical Greek culture. One such individual was Kalliope Sikulidu, a 16th-century Greek painter and icon artist who created numerous works for churches and monasteries.
Another notable Kalliope was Kalliope Parren, a 17th-century Dutch poet and playwright who wrote several influential works on topics ranging from love and romance to politics and religion.
In more recent history, the name Kalliope has been borne by figures such as Kalliope Engel, a 19th-century German composer and music educator, and Kalliope Arrighi, a 20th-century Greek painter and sculptor known for her abstract and surrealist works.
People
Kalliope + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Kalliope 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
Kalliope: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Kalliope?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,175 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Kalliope 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 291,706 US residents.
Is Kalliope a common name?
We classify Kalliope as "Rare". It ranks above 91.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,210 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Kalliope most popular?
The single biggest year for Kalliope was 2021, when 104 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Kalliope is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Kalliope in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 830 people with the name Kalliope, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,239 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 Kalliope 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 Kalliope?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Kalliope appears almost entirely female. Of the 831 people counted with this name, 99.9% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Kalliope?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Kalliope is White at 75.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (13.9%) and Two or More Races (7.0%). 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 Kalliope most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Kalliope in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.5% (627 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 Kalliope in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Kalliope a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Kalliope 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 Kalliope still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Kalliope 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 Kalliope 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 Kalliope?
You can see how many people share the name Kalliope on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.