Kalev 2

I love this name! It is strong and handsome and makes me think of a mighty warrior. I named my son this because there is already a Caleb in my family but I love the Hebrew sound of Kalev (kah-lehv). Also, I love the strength of the Caleb in the Bible and how he had the courage and faith to fight giants. One person we told the name to asked why we wanted to name our child "dog", but with the name origin being "wholehearted" I think that it is probably more likely that dogs were called so because of their loyalty.

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Everyone else we have told the name to has thought that it sounded very cool and unique, with one person telling us it sounded like a videogame character's name. Some people do have some trouble pronouncing it when seeing it for the first time without hearing it beforehand, but that hasn't been much of problem.

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My son is 5 now and loves his name. We started calling him Kalevi (kah-lehv-ee) as a nickname when he was a baby learning to talk and he actually likes it as much as Kalev. He introduces himself to people using both pretty equally. He also does everything with his whole heart. We went to a cavern and he was the first of his siblings to be brave enough to walk into the darkness. He throws himself at every task he does with extreme amounts of dedication even to his own frustration at times when he is not big enough or strong enough to accomplish what he wants to do. He is loving and thoughtful as well. He fits his name meaning for sure!

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On another note, I also really love that Kalev and Kalevi both have meanings in Finnish, which I didn't know when I picked the name but was excited when I found out because my family comes from Finland. Names that have meanings in more than one language feel like they have more richness and history, which I think is pretty cool.

Kalev is a wonderful name. It's much more fresher than Caleb (especially in the United States). I don't really like the whole mythology thing that's connected to this name but with that NOT in mind, I think Kalev by itself seems like a great name for a young man who is brave, honest, and noble.