Calista
Calista was given to 131 girls in 2025, #1,597 among girls’ names; 7,504 Americans have been recorded with it since 1894 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,990 Americans named Calista and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (93% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 13 and 27.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Calista by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Calista mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Calista is “a female given name from Latin.” Its etymology gives the senses “most beautiful” (Κάλλιστος) and “beautiful” (καλός).
From Latin Callistus, from Ancient Greek Κάλλιστος (Kállistos, “most beautiful”), from καλός (kalós, “beautiful”). Compare Callisto.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Calista?
#1,597 among girls’ names, 2025
Calista fell from #1,372 in 2015 to #1,597 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 96.4 to 81.5 per million.
490 babies in 1999, the peak
Calista peaked in 1999, when 490 girls were given it, #519 among girls’ names. The 131 births of 2025 are 27% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 131 | #1,597 | 0.08 |
| 2024 | 151 | #1,453 | 0.09 |
| 2023 | 120 | #1,712 | 0.07 |
| 2022 | 114 | #1,795 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 139 | #1,517 | 0.08 |
| 2020 | 99 | #1,927 | 0.06 |
| 2019 | 164 | #1,374 | 0.10 |
| 2018 | 130 | #1,634 | 0.08 |
| 2017 | 149 | #1,489 | 0.09 |
| 2016 | 183 | #1,307 | 0.10 |
Every recorded year (124)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 172 | #1,372 | 0.10 |
| 2014 | 155 | #1,455 | 0.09 |
| 2013 | 170 | #1,371 | 0.10 |
| 2012 | 196 | #1,238 | 0.11 |
| 2011 | 210 | #1,164 | 0.12 |
| 2010 | 235 | #1,057 | 0.13 |
| 2009 | 191 | #1,273 | 0.10 |
| 2008 | 207 | #1,223 | 0.11 |
| 2007 | 264 | #1,002 | 0.14 |
| 2006 | 231 | #1,093 | 0.12 |
| 2005 | 223 | #1,068 | 0.12 |
| 2004 | 282 | #870 | 0.15 |
| 2003 | 271 | #889 | 0.15 |
| 2002 | 305 | #775 | 0.17 |
| 2001 | 358 | #697 | 0.20 |
| 2000 | 401 | #627 | 0.22 |
| 1999 | 490 | #519 | 0.28 |
| 1998 | 323 | #697 | 0.18 |
| 1997 | 43 | #2,827 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 26 | #4,071 | 0.01 |
| 1995 | 23 | #4,361 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 25 | #4,131 | 0.01 |
| 1993 | 25 | #4,113 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 28 | #3,782 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 34 | #3,210 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 39 | #2,906 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 33 | #3,174 | 0.02 |
| 1988 | 31 | #3,165 | 0.02 |
| 1987 | 27 | #3,343 | 0.02 |
| 1986 | 33 | #2,853 | 0.02 |
| 1985 | 30 | #3,017 | 0.02 |
| 1984 | 32 | #2,785 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 31 | #2,790 | 0.02 |
| 1982 | 30 | #2,963 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 29 | #2,997 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 34 | #2,702 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 30 | #2,869 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 28 | #2,870 | 0.02 |
| 1977 | 31 | #2,673 | 0.02 |
| 1976 | 23 | #3,103 | 0.02 |
| 1975 | 18 | #3,649 | 0.01 |
| 1974 | 21 | #3,224 | 0.01 |
| 1973 | 26 | #2,693 | 0.02 |
| 1972 | 17 | #3,560 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 12 | #4,568 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 14 | #4,058 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 14 | #3,800 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 9 | #4,817 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 13 | #3,680 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 8 | #4,909 | under 0.01 |
| 1965 | 15 | #3,276 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 15 | #3,388 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 8 | #4,924 | under 0.01 |
| 1962 | 8 | #4,909 | under 0.01 |
| 1961 | 12 | #3,806 | 0.01 |
| 1960 | 9 | #4,482 | under 0.01 |
| 1959 | 6 | #5,624 | under 0.01 |
| 1958 | 8 | #4,552 | under 0.01 |
| 1957 | 10 | #3,958 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #4,496 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 9 | #4,102 | under 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #5,205 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 7 | #4,636 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 15 | #2,827 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 11 | #3,303 | 0.01 |
| 1950 | 8 | #3,995 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 10 | #3,410 | 0.01 |
| 1948 | 18 | #2,334 | 0.01 |
| 1947 | 8 | #4,033 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 6 | #4,487 | under 0.01 |
| 1945 | 8 | #3,423 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 8 | #3,414 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 9 | #3,275 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 7 | #3,784 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 11 | #2,587 | 0.01 |
| 1939 | 8 | #3,171 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,897 | 0.01 |
| 1937 | 10 | #2,761 | 0.01 |
| 1936 | 12 | #2,398 | 0.01 |
| 1935 | 6 | #3,804 | 0.01 |
| 1934 | 12 | #2,437 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 8 | #3,310 | 0.01 |
| 1931 | 8 | #3,258 | 0.01 |
| 1930 | 13 | #2,438 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 6 | #4,127 | 0.01 |
| 1928 | 11 | #2,789 | 0.01 |
| 1927 | 9 | #3,316 | 0.01 |
| 1926 | 17 | #2,172 | 0.01 |
| 1925 | 6 | #4,509 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 14 | #2,535 | 0.01 |
| 1923 | 6 | #4,453 | under 0.01 |
| 1922 | 15 | #2,402 | 0.01 |
| 1921 | 15 | #2,392 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 14 | #2,482 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 13 | #2,533 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 19 | #1,973 | 0.02 |
| 1917 | 10 | #2,912 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 20 | #1,744 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 17 | #1,892 | 0.02 |
| 1914 | 15 | #1,749 | 0.02 |
| 1913 | 6 | #2,874 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 11 | #1,734 | 0.02 |
| 1911 | 9 | #1,679 | 0.02 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,793 | 0.02 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,793 | 0.02 |
| 1904 | 6 | #1,684 | 0.02 |
| 1903 | 5 | #1,830 | 0.02 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,823 | 0.02 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,968 | 0.02 |
| 1899 | 5 | #1,635 | 0.02 |
| 1897 | 5 | #1,580 | 0.02 |
| 1896 | 7 | #1,305 | 0.03 |
| 1895 | 7 | #1,319 | 0.03 |
| 1894 | 7 | #1,251 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Calista a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Calista has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 124 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Calista: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Calista, and how old are they?
6,990 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 93% of the 7,504 Americans ever recorded as Calista. The median Calista alive today is 21 years old; half are between 13 and 27.
The 2020 Census counted 6,028 people named Calista (6,016 women and girls, 12 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 6,326 born in the U.S. The Census count is 5% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 41 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 141 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 293 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 463 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 4,180 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,870 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Calista born?
The states with the most babies named Calista are California, Florida and Ohio, with 55% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 27 | #1,003 | 1.0× |
| Florida | 8 | #1,573 | 0.8× |
| Ohio | 8 | #1,046 | 0.8× |
| Washington | 7 | #833 | 0.9× |
| Texas | 6 | #2,995 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 6 | #1,274 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 6 | #1,400 | 0.3× |
| North Carolina | 5 | #1,495 | 0.6× |
| Virginia | 5 | #1,217 | 0.6× |
Where Calista is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Calista is most over-represented in Arizona: since 1910 it was given 1.3 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Calista with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 8 names spelled alike, given to 14,536 babies since 1880, Calista is the most given (52% of them). In 2025 it was given to 131 of their 229 babies (57%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Calista
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Calista and names like it
- Compare Calista and CallistaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1990sCalista peaked in 1999.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Calista since 1910.
- Latin namesWiktionary’s origin for Calista: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1999The year the most babies were named Calista.
- The names of Generation ZMost people named Calista alive today were born 1997-2012.
- Names starting with CMost given first.