Caleb is a Hebrew masculine given name. The Hebrew spelling of the name Caleb - ??? - is identical with the spelling of the word dog - "kelev". The composing of the Bible antedates by thousands of years the introduction of the Niqqud system of diacritical signs which modern Hebrew uses to represent vowels. Thus, it is difficult to ascertain how the name was originally pronounced. Many name books and websites list the meaning of Caleb as "Dog". Many Biblical characters bore animal names, including names which in the sensibilities of later times would be considered insulting, such as the woman prophet Hulda, whose name means "weasel". In some traditions, Caleb's being a "dog" symbolizes his devotion to God.
An alternate 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 (??, Kaf + Lamed) = "all" or "whole"; Lev (??, 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.
Video Caleb (given name)
Bearers
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
Other people
- Caleb Atwater (1778-1867), American archaeologist, historian, and politician
- Caleb Banks (1659-1696), English politician, member of the House of Commons
- Caleb Binge (born 1993), Australian rugby league player
- Caleb Bradham (1867-1934), inventor of Pepsi-Cola
- Caleb Carr (born 1955), American author
- Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck (died 1665 or 1666), first Native American graduate of Harvard University
- Caleb Cushing (1800-1879), American statesman and diplomat, Congressman from Massachusetts and Attorney General
- Joseph Caleb Deschanel (born 1944), Franco-American cinematographer
- Caleb Finch, professor studying aging in human beings
- Caleb Folan (born 1982), English footballer
- Caleb Followill (born 1982), lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Kings of Leon
- Caleb Hanie (born 1985), American football player
- Caleb Lewis (born 1978), Australian playwright
- Caleb Martin (1924-1994), American football player
- Caleb McLaughlin (born 2001), American actor
- Caleb Powers (1869-1932), United States Representative from Kentucky and Secretary of State of Kentucky, convicted as an accessory to murder
- Caleb Pusey, (c. 1650-1727), friend and business partner of William Penn, provincial supreme court justice
- Caleb Ralph (born 1977), New Zealand rugby union footballer
- Caleb Santos Jordão Rocha Carvalho (born 1992), Brazilian football player known simply as Caleb
- Caleb Strong (1745-1819), lawyer and politician, sixth and tenth Governor of Massachusetts
- Calev Myers (21st century), American-Israeli lawyer
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 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
Maps Caleb (given name)
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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