Cailean
Cailean is a name with a single cultural origin: Scottish Gaelic.
- Scottish Gaelic
Meaning & Origin of Cailean
What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures.
Cailean is a name with a single cultural origin: Scottish Gaelic.
Origin data from Behind the Name .
Cultural Origins (via Behind the Name)
- Scottish Gaelic
The Story of Cailean
As a girl name
The earliest SSA record of Cailean as a girl name dates back to 2002, when 6 babies received it. 2002 was its biggest year on record, with 6 newborns named Cailean — #13,595 in the national rankings. Cailean last appeared in the published SSA data in 2004, with 6 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 17 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 2000s to the 2020s.
As a boy name
Cailean first appeared in U.S. Social Security Administration records as a boy name in 1990, with 5 babies given the name that year. The name hit its high-water mark in 1995: 11 births, good for #5,124 nationwide. About 59% of every Cailean on record arrived during the 1990s, its defining decade. Cailean last appeared in the published SSA data in 2014, with 6 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 68 Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 1990s to the 2020s.
Popularity Over Time
Popularity by State
Variants & Related Forms of Cailean
Foreign forms, alternate spellings, and nicknames that share roots with Cailean. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.
Names that sound like Cailean
Phonetically similar names — useful when Cailean is the vibe but a different syllable count or letter feel might suit better. Linked entries have a profile on Peek a Name.
Source: Datamuse . Phonetic similarity ranking, not curated.
Frequently Asked Questions about Cailean
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About the name Cailean
Cailean is a unisex baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 1990 and has accumulated 68 births in the dataset. Cailean's peak popularity came in 1995 when it ranked #5,124. Use the chart and map above to compare Cailean's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices.
Continue exploring
- Top names of 1995 →
- Names of the 1990s →
- Names starting with "C" →
- Browse all boy names →
- Top names of 2026 →
- Browse unisex names →
Data sources
- Birth statistics (counts, ranks, years 1880–2026) — U.S. Social Security Administration . Predictions for years not yet released by SSA are computed by Peek a Name from historical trends; we update with official data as soon as it ships.
- Etymology, cultural origins, and related forms — Behind the Name (used under their public API terms).
- Meaning prose and editorial summary — Wikipedia article extracts, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 .
- Predicted nationality distribution — Nationalize.io .
- Phonetically similar names — Datamuse .
Peek a Name aggregates and presents the above data for informational purposes. Statistical predictions and external attributions are clearly labelled where shown; we make no guarantee of accuracy beyond what each source provides.