Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I like the name Caleb, but it lost its appeal after I learned that it is the Hebrew word for “dog”. I couldn’t shake the idea that I was naming my kid “dog”. And every time I meet a new kid named Caleb I wonder if his parents knew what the name means.
😂
No it doesn’t. I used to think that until I researched it further.
Hebrew meaning offered for Caleb is "faithful, zealous, ruthless, bold, brave". This is on the basis of its being actually a compound word, a phenomenon quite common in ancient Hebrew. Col (כל, Kaf + Lamed) = "all" or "whole"; Lev (לב, Lamed + Bet) means "heart". Therefore, Caleb (or Calev as pronounced in Hebrew) would actually mean "whole hearted" or “singleminded”. This might be due to the personal qualities of the Biblical Caleb, a companion of Moses and Joshua.