Explore the Family Name Kalam

The meaning of Kalam

Muslim (mainly the Indian subcontinent): from the Arabic personal name Kalām ‘speech’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Kalam in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Kalam has seen a significant surge between 2000 and 2010. The rank of this surname improved from 88,825 in 2000 to 57,914 in 2010, indicating an increase in its usage by approximately 34.8%. Furthermore, the count of people carrying the Kalam surname also grew from 194 to 351 during this period, marking a substantial jump of nearly 81%. The proportion of people with this last name per 100,000 individuals rose from 0.07 to 0.12, signifying an impressive leap of around 71%.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#88,825	#57,914	34.8%
Count	194	351	80.93%
Proportion per 100k	0.07	0.12	71.43%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Kalam

The Decennial U.S. Census data also provides valuable insights into the ethnicity identity associated with the surname Kalam. In 2000, around 62.89% of individuals with this surname identified as Asian/Pacific Islander, which increased to 80.91% in 2010. The percentage of people identifying as White remained relatively stable at approximately 7.7%. Interestingly, while the surname was associated with a percentage of 17.53% for two or more races in 2000, no such association was found in 2010. Moreover, the percentage of individuals identifying as Hispanic dropped significantly from 6.7% to just under 4%, a decrease of approximately 40%. The surname saw new associations with Black ethnicity, going from 0% in 2000 to 4.27% in 2010. There were no associations with American Indian and Alaskan Native ethnic identities in either year.

	2000	2010	Change
Asian/Pacific Islander	62.89%	80.91%	28.65%
White	7.73%	7.69%	-0.52%
Black	0%	4.27%	0%
Hispanic	6.7%	3.99%	-40.45%
Two or More Races	17.53%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0%	0%