Shem Tov Boy's nameOrigin: biblicalIn Israel: hardly given today
KalevIn Hebrew: כלב · meaning, pronunciation and popularity in Israel
With vowel points: כָּלֵבRomanization: kalév
Kalev (Hebrew: כלב) is a boy's name of biblical origin. 88 people born in Israel between 1949 and 2024 have it today, according to Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). Its peak year was 2016, with 6 babies.
- People in Israel
- 88
- born 1949–2024
- Babies in 2024
- —
- not in the list
- Peak year
- 2016
- 6 babies
- USA
- —
- not in the SSA list
Writing and saying Kalev
In Hebrew letters the name is כלב, read right to left. Kalev is the Latin spelling recorded by our review; families choose their own spelling in passports, so you may also meet other forms. Wiktionary romanizes it as "kalév" (the accent marks the stressed syllable).
Meaning and origin
- a male given name, Caleb
Related to כֶּלֶב (kélev, “dog”) above.
Quoted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), unchanged.
Kalev by year in Israel
How many boys out of every 10,000 born each year have the name. For Israel it counts the people born that year who carry the name today (the CBS counts residents by year of birth, not birth registrations).
per 10,000 babies of the same sex
Related Israeli names
Spelling variants and names that look or sound close in Hebrew.
Questions about Kalev
How do you write Kalev in Hebrew?
Kalev is written כלב in Hebrew (with vowel points: כָּלֵב). Hebrew is read right to left. A dictionary romanization is "kalév".
How many people in Israel are named Kalev?
88 people born between 1949 and 2024 carry the name כלב: 0 women and 88 men. The count comes from the CBS table of current first names by year of birth; years with fewer than 5 people are not published.
Is Kalev a boy's or a girl's name?
In Israel it is almost always a boy's name: 100.0% of the people named כלב are men.
What does the name Kalev mean?
English Wiktionary describes it as: "a male given name, Caleb" Etymology: Related to כֶּלֶב (kélev, “dog”) above.
Sources
Israel: Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), current first names of people born 1949–2024 by sex, population group and year of birth, processed 2026-09-27. CBS publications.