Caleb

Let's get the strange bit out of the way first, because it's far too good to bury. Caleb is a Hebrew name, and its meaning is given as faithful, or, brilliantly, dog. Yes, dog.

Before you cross it off, sit with that for a second, because the two readings actually rhyme. What is a dog if not loyalty on four legs? Faithful, steadfast, always pleased to see you: that's the spirit stitched into this name, and honestly there are worse things to wish upon a child than boundless devotion and the odd muddy paw print. It gives Caleb a warmth that its rugged, slightly outdoorsy sound might not lead you to expect.

That sound is a big part of the appeal. Caleb is sturdy without being heavy, two clean syllables that land like a firm handshake. It shortens gamely, too, to Cale or plain Cal, for the days when even two syllables feel like an extravagance in a house that hasn't slept.

It's a well-travelled choice, if a distinctly English-speaking one. Caleb sits at 35 in Canada and 56 in the United States, holds 66 in New Zealand and 75 in England and Wales, and even charts as high as 30 in Mexico City. It softens off toward 109 in Argentina, 110 in Brazil and 125 in Australia, popular, then, but never so ubiquitous that your Caleb will be one of four in the class register.

There's proper heritage underneath it. The original Caleb of the Hebrew scriptures, son of Jephunneh, representing the Tribe of Judah on the long journey to the Promised Land, was the very picture of faith that holds its nerve when everyone else has lost theirs. That's a lot of quiet backbone for a name to carry. More recently the actors Caleb McLaughlin and Caleb Landry Jones have kept it firmly in the present tense, proof it wears a spotlight just as comfortably as a sandal.

On a shortlist it plays beautifully with the gently biblical, gently rugged set. Line it up with Joshua, Noah and Levi, or let it balance the softer Hannah and Abigail, and you have a sibling group that sounds like it could hike a mountain and then say grace at the top. Nothing about it feels fussy or fashionable-for-fashion's-sake.

So is Caleb the one? That, of course, is the maddening joy of this entire pursuit. A name can promise lifelong loyalty, come with centuries of quiet courage and shorten to something a toddler can shout across a playground, and you'll still hover over the shortlist chewing your pen. Caleb makes an awfully good case, faithful to the last, dog and all, but the final say belongs to a small person yet to arrive.