Kalen
Kalen is a given name. Notable people with the name include:Kalen Ballage, American football player Kalen Damessi, Togolese football player Kalen DeBoer, American football player and coach Kalen Jackson, American football executive Kalen Porter, Canadian singer-songwriter from Alberta Kalen Thornton, American football player
Meaning & Origin of Kalen
What this name means, where it came from, and how it has traveled across cultures.
Kalen is a given name. Notable people with the name include:Kalen Ballage, American football player Kalen Damessi, Togolese football player Kalen DeBoer, American football player and coach Kalen Jackson, American football executive Kalen Porter, Canadian singer-songwriter from Alberta Kalen Thornton, American football player
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0). Read more →
The Story of Kalen
As a girl name
Kalen first appeared in U.S. Social Security Administration records as a girl name in 1952, with 5 babies given the name that year. The name hit its high-water mark in 1994: 64 births, good for #2,124 nationwide. About 34% of every Kalen on record arrived during the 1990s, its defining decade. Kalen last appeared in the published SSA data in 2022, with 5 recorded births — it has not charted nationally since. All told, over 1K Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 1950s to the 2020s.
As a boy name
Kalen first appeared in U.S. Social Security Administration records as a boy name in 1959, with 8 babies given the name that year. The name hit its high-water mark in 1998: 169 births, good for #858 nationwide. About 27% of every Kalen on record arrived during the 2000s, its defining decade. As of 2026, Kalen ranks #2,159 for boys with 69 births, holding steady (-4%). All told, over 5K Americans have carried the name since 1880, from the 1950s to the 2020s.
Popularity Over Time
Popularity by State
Names that sound like Kalen
Phonetically similar names — useful when Kalen 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 Kalen
What does the name Kalen mean?
How popular is Kalen in 2026?
When was Kalen most popular?
In which U.S. states is Kalen most popular?
Is Kalen a unisex name?
What names go well with Kalen?
About the name Kalen
Kalen is a unisex baby name tracked by the U.S. Social Security Administration. It first appeared in SSA records in 1959 and has accumulated 5K births in the dataset. Kalen's peak popularity came in 1998 when it ranked #858. Use the chart and map above to compare Kalen's trajectory across years and U.S. states, or browse the related names section to discover similar choices.
Continue exploring
- Top names of 1998 →
- Names of the 1990s →
- Names starting with "K" →
- 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.