Cal

Where Cal comes from

Cal hasn't made it into the dictionaries we draw on, and nobody well known enough for an encyclopedia has carried it yet — so for now its story is the one the SSA record tells. Names that spell a familiar sound a new way often live here for a while before anyone writes them down.

Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year, and the peak
    #392 among boys with 19 babies — the first year on record, and still its best.
  2. 1884
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #848.
  3. 1960
    Cal Ripken Jr. born
    American retired baseball player
  4. 1985
    Cal Crutchlow born
    British motorcycle racer
In the dictionary

No dictionary entry for this spelling — which is its own kind of rare.

Namesakes
  • Cal Crutchlow · British motorcycle racer, born 1985
  • Cal Ripken Jr. · American retired baseball player, born 1960
  • Cal Clutterbuck · Canadian ice hockey player, born 1987
  • Cal Petersen · American ice hockey player, born 1994
  • Cal Niday · racecar driver, 1914–1988

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.