Calum
Calum was given to 313 boys in 2025, #799 among boys’ names; 3,506 Americans have been recorded with it since 1978 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,470 Americans named Calum and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (99% of everyone recorded); the median is 7 years old and half are between 4 and 15.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Calum by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Calum mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Calum is “a male given name from Scottish Gaelic.” Its etymology gives the sense “dove” (literally).
From Scottish Gaelic Calum, from Late Latin Columba (literally “dove”), the name of a sixth century Scottish saint, one of the patron saints of Scotland. Doublet of Colm.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Calum?
#799 among boys’ names, 2025
Calum rose from #1,914 in 2015 to #799 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.04 to 0.18 per 1,000.
313 babies in 2025, the peak
Calum peaked in 2025, when 313 boys were given it, #799 among boys’ names. In 2024 it went to 259 boys.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 313 | #799 | 0.18 |
| 2024 | 259 | #904 | 0.15 |
| 2023 | 262 | #889 | 0.15 |
| 2022 | 303 | #817 | 0.17 |
| 2021 | 284 | #838 | 0.16 |
| 2020 | 240 | #929 | 0.14 |
| 2019 | 238 | #919 | 0.13 |
| 2018 | 202 | #1,018 | 0.11 |
| 2017 | 140 | #1,294 | 0.08 |
| 2016 | 92 | #1,696 | 0.05 |
Every recorded year (42)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 76 | #1,914 | 0.04 |
| 2014 | 51 | #2,464 | 0.03 |
| 2013 | 50 | #2,464 | 0.03 |
| 2012 | 49 | #2,522 | 0.03 |
| 2011 | 69 | #1,989 | 0.04 |
| 2010 | 56 | #2,288 | 0.03 |
| 2009 | 64 | #2,122 | 0.03 |
| 2008 | 63 | #2,144 | 0.03 |
| 2007 | 64 | #2,120 | 0.03 |
| 2006 | 43 | #2,701 | 0.02 |
| 2005 | 50 | #2,328 | 0.03 |
| 2004 | 40 | #2,643 | 0.02 |
| 2003 | 44 | #2,393 | 0.02 |
| 2002 | 44 | #2,338 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 49 | #2,117 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 35 | #2,624 | 0.02 |
| 1999 | 31 | #2,727 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 48 | #1,988 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 44 | #2,026 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 43 | #2,016 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 27 | #2,688 | 0.01 |
| 1994 | 31 | #2,444 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 19 | #3,378 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 15 | #3,934 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 13 | #4,257 | 0.01 |
| 1990 | 17 | #3,479 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 9 | #5,212 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 6 | #6,528 | under 0.01 |
| 1987 | 7 | #5,553 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 5 | #6,658 | under 0.01 |
| 1981 | 6 | #5,591 | under 0.01 |
| 1978 | 5 | #5,913 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Calum a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Calum has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 42 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Calum: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Calum, and how old are they?
3,470 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 99% of the 3,506 Americans ever recorded as Calum. The median Calum alive today is 7 years old; half are between 4 and 15.
The 2020 Census counted 1,932 people named Calum (7 women and girls, 1,925 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,885 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2% above that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 5 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 190 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 780 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,490 |
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 Calum born?
The states with the most babies named Calum are Texas, California and Ohio, with 25% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 24 | #981 | 0.6× |
| California | 23 | #962 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 20 | #516 | 1.0× |
| Pennsylvania | 16 | #580 | 0.7× |
| New York | 14 | #921 | 0.6× |
| Washington | 14 | #509 | 1.0× |
| Illinois | 14 | #644 | 0.5× |
| Virginia | 12 | #592 | 0.6× |
| Minnesota | 11 | #482 | 1.1× |
| Michigan | 10 | #727 | 0.9× |
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ 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 Calum 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 23,260 babies since 1880, Calum is the second most given (15% of them). In 2025 it was given to 313 of their 3,581 babies (8.7%), again the second 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 Calum
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 Calum and names like it
- Compare Calum and CallumBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sCalum peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Calum since 1910.
- Scottish Gaelic namesWiktionary’s origin for Calum: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Calum.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Calum alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with CMost given first.