Cal Boy
How popular is Cal?
#542 boy name in 2025
554 baby boys were named Cal in the US in 2025, making it the 542nd most popular boy name.
Cal popularity over time
Boys Girls
| Rank in 2025 | #542 for boys (▲ 128 from 2024) |
|---|---|
| Babies in 2025 | 554 boys |
| 10-year trend | Rising fast (+285% babies vs 2015) |
| Earlier ranks | #1,252 in 2015, #935 in 2020 |
| Peak year | 2025 (554 boys) |
| Highest rank | #392 in 1880 |
| First recorded | 1880 |
| Boys vs girls (last 10 years) | 100% boys, 0% girls |
| Chance a classmate shares it | 0.4% in a class of 25 kids born in 2025 |
Cal counting every spelling
Social Security counts each spelling as its own name. Adding together the spellings that sound alike, the Cal family of names ranked #450 for boys in 2025 (#541 the year before), with 672 babies in all.
Spellings are grouped by how they sound, using our own rules, so a few groupings may not match how your family says the name.
Where Cal is most popular
Babies named Cal per 1,000 boys born in each state, 2021 to 2025. Darker means more common.
- Utah: 1.4 per 1,000 (135 boys)
- Iowa: 1.0 per 1,000 (67 boys)
- Wyoming: 0.9 per 1,000 (5 boys)
- Nebraska: 0.8 per 1,000 (35 boys)
- North Dakota: 0.8 per 1,000 (13 boys)
Cal by decade
| Decade | Baby boys | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 104 | #392 |
| 1890s | 87 | #533 |
| 1900s | 59 | #752 |
| 1910s | 176 | #1,044 |
| 1920s | 249 | #1,287 |
| 1930s | 215 | #1,326 |
| 1940s | 309 | #988 |
| 1950s | 538 | #848 |
| 1960s | 458 | #910 |
| 1970s | 288 | #1,373 |
| 1980s | 333 | #1,457 |
| 1990s | 689 | #1,077 |
| 2000s | 903 | #1,381 |
| 2010s | 1,273 | #1,167 |
| 2020s | 2,177 | #542 |
Boy names about as popular as Cal
Questions
- Is Cal a boy or girl name?
- Cal is mostly a boy name. Over the last 10 years, 100% of babies named Cal were boys.
- How popular is the name Cal?
- 554 baby boys were named Cal in the US in 2025, making it the 542nd most popular boy name.
- When was Cal most popular?
- Cal peaked in 2025, when 554 boys were given the name. Its highest rank was #392 in 1880.
- How many people are named Cal?
- 7,868 babies have been named Cal in the US since 1880. We estimate about 6,522 of them are alive in 2026, with a median age of 14.
- Where is Cal most popular?
- From 2021 to 2025, Cal was most common in Utah, at 1.4 of every 1,000 boys born there.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880 to 2025 (names given to at least 5 babies of a sex in a year). Living-people and median-age figures are our estimates using US life tables. How we calculate.