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".

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 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 for the Portland Trailblazers
• Caeleb Landry (born 2007),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
• Caeleb Landry (2019-Present), Professional Youtuber

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.

See also

• Kaleb (name) *Caeleb (name)