Caleb (given name)
Caleb is a Hebrew masculine given name. The Hebrew meaning offered for Caleb is "faithful, devotion, whole hearted, bold, brave". This is on the basis of its being actually a compound word, a phenomenon quite common in ancient Hebrew. Col (כל, Kaf + Lamed) = "all" or "whole"; Lev (לב, Lamed + Bet) means "heart". Therefore, Caleb (or Calev as pronounced in Hebrew) would actually mean "whole hearted". This might be due to the Biblical Caleb, a companion of Moses and Joshua, being noted for his astute powers of observation and fearlessness in the face of overwhelming odds.
Another plausible origin is a transposition of a name found in other ancient Semitic languages such as Phoenician and Ugaritic, meaning "servant of the Lord".[1]
The early Medieval King Kaleb of Axum was the most well-known monarch of this kingdom (in modern Ethiopia and Eritrea). The name Caleb was popular among the English Puritans and was introduced by them to America.
Given name
Biblical figures
- Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, an important figure in the Hebrew Bible/Christian Old Testament
- Caleb, son of Hezron, one of the three sons of Hezron, mentioned in the Book of Chronicles
Actors
- Caleb Foote (born 1993), American actor
- Caleb Landry Jones (born 1989), American actor
- Caleb McLaughlin (born 2001), American actor
- Caleb Ross (born 1981), New Zealander film and television actor
- Caleb Spivak, American actor
Athletes
- Caleb Baldwin (boxer) (1769-1827), English boxer
- Caleb Ewan (born 1994), Australian cyclist
- Caleb Wilson (born 1996), American football player
- Caleb Ekuban (born 1994), Italian footballer
- Caleb Richards (born 1998), English footballer
- Caleb Folan (born 1982), English footballer
- Caleb Ekwegwo (born 1988), Nigerian footballer
- Caleb Agada (born 1994), Nigerian-Canadian basketball player
- Caleb Timu (born 1994), New Zealand-born Australian rugby footballer
- Caleb Ralph (born 1977), New Zealand rugby union footballer
- Caleb Stanko (born 1993), American soccer player
- Caleb Thielbar (born 1987), American professional baseball player
- Caleb Crone (1920-1958), Irish Gaelic footballer
- Caleb Binge (born 1993), Australian professional rugby league footballer
- Caleb Shepherd (born 1993), New Zealander rowing cox
- Caleb Hanie (born 1985), American football player
- Caleb Martin (1924–1994), American football player
- Caleb Ralph (born 1977), New Zealand rugby union footballer
- Caleb Binge (born 1993), Australian rugby league player
- Caleb Brantley (born 1994), American football player
- Caleb Daniel (born 1996), Australian rules footballer
- Caleb Patterson-Sewell (born 1987), American professional footballer
- Caleb Zady (born 1999), Ivorian professional footballer
- Caleb Clarke (born 1993), Canadian former soccer player
- Caleb Marchbank (born 1996), Australian rules footballer
- Caleb Graham (born 2000), Australian rules footballer
- Caleb Aekins (born 1997), New Zealander rugby league footballer
- Caleb Swanigan (born 1997), American professional basketball player
Politicians
- Caleb Rice (1792–1873), American politician and businessman
- Caleb Walton West (1844-1909), American politician and Governor of Utah Territory
- Caleb C. Harris (1836-1904), American farmer, physician, and politician
- Caleb Powell (1793-1881), Irish Repeal Association and Whig politician
- Caleb J. Anderson (1910–1996), Swedish Social Democrat
- Caleb J. McNulty (1816-1846), American lawyer, newspaper editor and politician
- Caleb Jenner (1830-1890), English-born politician in colonial Victoria (Australia), member of the Victorian Legislative Council
- Caleb P. Bennett (1758-1836), American soldier and politician
- Caleb Hopkins (Upper Canada), (1786-1880), Canadian farmer and politician
- Caleb Stetson (1801-1885), American businessman and politician from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Caleb Stark (1759-1838), American state senator
- Caleb Newbold Taylor (1813-1887) was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
- Caleb Ayer (1813-1883), American politician
- Caleb Hanna (born 1999), American politician as a Republican member of the West Virginia House of Delegates
- Caleb Atwater (1778-1867), American politician, historian, and early archaeologist
- Caleb Powers (1869–1932), United States Representative from Kentucky and Secretary of State of Kentucky
- Caleb Cushing (1800–1879), American statesman and diplomat, Congressman from Massachusetts and Attorney General
- Caleb Banks (1659–1696), English politician, member of the House of Commons
- Caleb Jones (politician) (born 1980), American politician
- Caleb Wright (1810-1898), English politician
- Caleb Strong (1745–1819), lawyer and politician, sixth and tenth Governor of Massachusetts
- Caleb Frostman (born 1984), American politician
- Caleb R. Layton (1851-1830), American politician
- Caleb Blood Smith (1808-1864),,United States Representative from Indiana
- Caleb Rowden, American politician
- Caleb Rodney (1767-1840), American merchant and politician
- Caleb Lomax (1695–1730), British landowner and politician
- Caleb Ellis (1767-1816), American politician and lawyer
- Caleb Claiborne Herbert (1814-1867), Confederate politician
Other
- Caleb Evans (1831-1886), English geologist
- Caleb Fleming (1698-1779), English dissenting minister and Polemicist
- Caleb Whitefoord (1734-1810), Scottish merchant, diplomat, and political satirist
- Caleb Thomas Winchester (1847-1920), American English scholar
- Caleb Simper (1856-1942), English composer and church organist
- Caleb Ashworth (1722–1775), English dissenting tutor
- Caleb Jeacocke (1706–1786), English baker and businessman
- Caleb Angas (1782-1860), English agriculturist
- Caleb V. Haynes (1895-1966), American Air Force major general
- Caleb Crain, American writer
- Caleb Garling, American writer
- Caleb Silver, American journalist
- Caleb Schaber (1973-2009), American artist and journalist
- Caleb Carr (born 1955), American military historian and author
- Caleb Saleeby (1878-1940), English physician, writer, and journalist
- Caleb Hillier Parry (1755-1822), Anglo-Welsh physician
- Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (died 1665 or 1666), first Native American graduate of Harvard University
- Caleb Deschanel (born 1944), Franco-American cinematographer
- Caleb Finch, professor studying aging in human beings
- Caleb Followill (born 1982), lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Kings of Leon
- Caleb Lewis (born 1978), Australian playwright
- Caleb Pusey, (c. 1650–1727), friend and business partner of William Penn, provincial supreme court justice
- Calev Myers (21st century), American-Israeli lawyer
- Caleb Bradham (1867–1934), inventor of Pepsi-Cola
- Caleb Rotheram (1694–1752), English dissenting minister and tutor
- Caleb Quaye (born 1948), English guitarist
Fictional characters
- Caleb Garth, a character in the George Eliot novel Middlemarch
- Caleb Trask, a major character in the John Steinbeck novel East of Eden
- Caleb Lambert, the son of Gary and Caroline Lambert in Jonathan Franzen's novel The Corrections
- Caleb Bradley, a corporate swindler in Ayn Rand's novel The Fountainhead
- Caleb Temple, main character in the 1995 television series American Gothic
- Caleb (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), a villain in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television series
- Caleb Nichol, in The O.C. television series
- Caleb (computer game character), protagonist of the computer game Blood and its sequel, Blood II: The Chosen
- Caleb (W.I.T.C.H.), in the comic book and animated television series W.I.T.C.H.
- Caleb Morley, vampire in the soap opera Port Charles
- Caleb Lansing-Gant, part-human part-machine protagonist of the UK game show Mission: 2110
- Caleb Rivers, character from the TV series Pretty Little Liars
- Caleb Widogast, one of the main characters from the American Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role
- Caleb Williams, the main character in the William Godwin novel Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams
- Caleb Prior, the brother of protagonist Tris Prior in the Divergent series and film of the same name
- Caleb Smith, a computer programmer tasked with evaluating an artificial being, in the film Ex Machina
- Caleb Dingle, character from the TV series Emmerdale
- Caleb Dume, real name of Jedi Kanan Jarrus in Star Wars Rebels
- Caleb, character from the Netflix show Big Mouth
- Caleb, recurrent character from the Syfy show Helix in Season 2
- Caleb, character from the HBO show Westworld in Season 3
- Caleb John Gosche, a cannibal who appears in Seasons 5 and 6 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Caleb Malphas, a demon from Sherrilyn Kenyon's teen fiction series, The Chronicles Of Nick.
- Caleb Quinn, also known as "The Deathslinger", who uses a harpoon gun for his "killer ability", in the videogame Dead by Daylight