by Nicole Williams

Created on: January 20, 2008

ETYMOLOGY:
The meaning of Caleb in Hebrew is "dog".

ORIGIN & HISTORY:
- In the Bible, Caleb was a companion of Moses and Joshua.

- According to the Bible, God promised the land of Canaan to the Israelites who fled Egypt. Moses sent twelve scouts, one from each of the tribes, into Canaan to report what was there. Among these twelve were Joshua from the Ephraim tribe and Caleb from the Judah tribe. Ten out of the twelve scouts returned to say that the land was inhabited by giants who would crush the Hebrew army. Only Joshua and Caleb said that God would be able to deliver Canaan into the hands of the Hebrew nation. Because of the news of then ten scouts, the Hebrews chose not to go to Canaan. Because of this, God causes them to wander the desert for forty years. The only two adults to survive this were Joshua and Caleb.

- Sometimes, Caleb is translated to "faithful" or "loyal", most likely because these are characteristics of a dog to his owner, but the literal Hebrew translation is "dog". This wasn't uncommon, for figures throughout The Old Testament in the Bible, many name correspond to that of an animal.

POPULARITY:
The records from the Social Security Administration only go back to the year 1880. At that point, the name Caleb was at number 327 and on the decline. The name stayed in the top 1,000 wavering from year to year, sometimes drastically from one year to the next, until 1908, which is the first year that Caleb wasn't in the top 1,000 boy names. It again wavered from year to year, sometimes being in the lower portion of the top 1,000 and sometimes not being in it, until the year of 1926. This was the beginning of a long dry spell for the name. The name was out of the top 1,000 for 38 years, when it finally reached number 1,000 in 1964, it wavered again for a few years. Since 1968, the name has stayed in the top 1,000. In fact, the name soared in popularity and in 2006, the name was ranked at number 34.

FASCINATING FACTS:
Caleb, pronounced "KAY-leb", was a popular name among the Puritans and was introduced to America by the Puritans.

NAMESAKES:
- Television:
- Caleb Nichol in "The OC', a romance/ drama series
- Caleb Temple in "American Gothic", a horror-themed series

- Movies:
- Caleb played by Don Shanks in "Made Men", an action/ comedy
- Caleb played by Armand Alzamora in "Sergeants 3", a comedy/ western
- Caleb Pontipee played by Matt Mattox in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", a family/ comedy/ musical
- Caleb Mandrake played by Paul Walker in "The Skulls",

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>