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The first name 
Calum

Calum is a first name for boys.

Calum is a well-known but special name!

Calum is a well-known name in the US, but is still special. It is currently only given to every ten thousandth boy, and therefore ranks at 1096 in the SmartGenius statistics. This means there are 1,095 boys names that are more common, but also tens of thousands that are much rarer. If you polled the whole US population – children, adults and seniors – you’d find less than one in 10,000 to be named Calum.

You won't believe all there is 
to discover about the name
 
Calum

Calum -
keeping with the times

Calum is a fairly recent phenomenon. In the past, the name wasn't really on the radar of expectant parents. Then, unexpectedly, Calum cried out for attention, reaching its peak in popularity at #761 in our SmartGenius statistics in the year 2022. People over 50 probably didn't have classmates named Calum, for there were many years in which not a single parent chose this first name for their son. Although it also has never been in the top 100 of most popular first names, Calum seems to have been in vogue for a while, especially since the beginning of the new millennium.

In years where the graph has no value, the name Calum was given less than five times or even none at all in the entire USA.

Calum -
special, but at home in many states

You may not know anyone named Calum, but there’s a good chance you live in the same state as someone with that name. In fact, 33 states are home to men and boys named Calum. (To be fair, a given name is only included in a state’s official statistics if there are at least five people with that name living in that state – so it’s entirely possible that there are still a few men and boys named Calum living in one state or another. If your name is Calum and you live outside of the states highlighted on the map, please let us know so we can refine our statistics even further). And while the first name is present in many states, it is still not one of the popular ones. In Utah, which has the most people named Calum relative to the population, you still have to ask 21,614 men and boys their names before you hear Calum as an answer just once.

Calum has 5 letters 
and begins with a C

Well, you might say, you probably figured that out yourself! But what you might not know is: The letter C is a frequent initial letter for boys’ names. This is because 5.2% of all common boys’ names in the US begin with this letter. The most common first letters of boys' names, by the way, are J, A and D.

With five letters, the name Calum is comparatively short. In fact, 17.0% of all common first names in the US consist of exactly five letters. Only 7% of all first names are even shorter, while 75% have more than five letters. On average, first names in the US (not counting hyphenated names) are 6.5 letters long. There are no significant differences between boys' and girls' names.

With 5.2% of all boys' names that begin with a C, this first letter is thus much more common than the average of all letters. And which boys’ name beginning with C do you think is the most common in the US? The answer is... Charles.

With hands, flags and sounds 
How to say Calum

If your name is Calum and someone asks after your name, you can of course just tell them what it is. But sometimes that isn't so easy - what if it's too loud, and you don't understand them well? Or what if the other person is so far away that you can see them but not hear them? In these situations, you can communicate your name in so many other ways: you call spell it, sign it, or even use a flag to wave it...

This is how you spell the name Calum

So that everyone really understands you when you have to spell the name Calum, you can simply say:

Cat

Apple

Lion

Unicorn

Mouse

This is how the name Calum is spelled in the NATO phonetic alphabet

The NATO alphabet often helps people spell words on the phone or radio when there are communication problems.

How do you write Calum in Braille?

Braille is made up of dots, which the blind and visually impaired can feel to read words.

Calum

Calum

You want to tell a deaf person that your name is Calum

Just use American Sign Language!

The name Calum is particularly colorful in the Semaphore flag signaling system!

These flags are used for maritime communication - each flag represents a letter.

C
A
L
U
M

Have you ever waved the name Calum

In the navy, sailors of two ships might wave flags to each other to send messages. A sailor holds two flags in specific positions to represent different letters.

C
A
L
U
M

Beeping like crazy...

In Morse code, letters and other characters are represented only by a series of short and long tones. For example, a short tone followed by a long tone stands for the letter A. Calum sounds like this: