What's in a name?

"Caleb" has been in the top 50 most common names since 1997 and in the top 100s for the rest of the 90s. (By the way, check out this site to see the popularity trends of your name!) But in our experience, so many people have had difficulty pronouncing Caleb's name!

I understand that Caleb is not spelled the way it sounds (which is pronounced [Key-luh b] according to the pronunciation key, or practically like "K"-lub). Some people, like Gabe's mom, pronounce it like it's spelled, "Kay-Leb." That's more understandable, but his name has gotten seriously butchered in the pronunciation department by so many people. The first time we took him to the doctor, the nurse came out and said "Suh-leeeeebeh." We didn't respond, so she tried again "Kal-leebeth." We also didn't respond, so finally she said Caleb's middle name "Tyler." Then we looked at each other and said "ooooh, she's trying to call Caleb."

Actually, my mom and uncle often confuse the name "Caleb" with "Gabriel." It's pretty funny. My mom will say "Gabriel is the most important now. Everyone comes to see Gabriel, he's always the center of attention!" and "I saw the new Gabriel videos" etc. They both say that it's difficult because Caleb and Gabriel sound so alike. I find it funny, but I can't say that I agree. :) Thankfully, they're both getting much better at it (although my uncle still slips sometimes and calls him Galeb). Before Caleb was born, a large family dinner and the family spent the whole dinner learning to pronounce Caleb (and asked us why we picked such a strange name).

I know I should have expected it since before we named him Caleb, my coworker told me a story about how she was on a conference call with a Caleb, and asked the question "Is that correct Celeb (like celebrity)?" And he replied "uh, yes, but my name is Caleb." haha. It's just that I always hated when people pronounced my name "Sondra" so I was hoping that Caleb wouldn't run into such issues.

Here's why we named him Caleb - Caleb means Faithful and Bold. In Numbers, Caleb followed the Lord wholeheartedly and stood up in faith. So despite all this, I think it's an excellent name :)