Meaning and background
The story behind Calvin
Calvin comes through the French surname Cauvin and its Latinized form Calvinus, with a historical connection to words for baldness. The given name was used in honor of the theologian known in English as John Calvin. Later associations include the comic-strip character in Calvin and Hobbes, so an owner's inspiration may be literary rather than religious. The old surname explanation should not be read as a description of a dog's coat. Cal is a documented shorter form if you want both a formal name and a brief call.
- Origin
- English given name from French Cauvin, via Latinized Calvinus; surname elements refer to baldness. Source
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About Calvin
Recorded as a dog’s name
Calvin appears in 20 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/kælvən/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
Other dictionary readings and notation
/kælvən/ · primary stress on syllable 1K AE1 L V AH0 N
/kælvɪn/ · primary stress on syllable 1K AE1 L V IH0 N
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.