girl's name
Calliope
kuh-LY-uh-pee
- Origin Greek
- Gender Girl
- Syllables 4
- Letters 8
- Popularity Top 1000 (US)
- Births on record 6,986
the United States
#451
2025 births
Calliope is a girl's name of Greek origin meaning "beautiful-voiced". She is the Muse of epic poetry and the eldest of the nine, and the steam organ named after her is famously the loudest instrument ever built.
- Calliope is a name of Greek origin.
- Peaked in 2025, when 682 babies were given the name.
- It has been rising over the past decade.
- Today about 1 in 4,861 babies in the United States is given this name.
- First appears in US birth records in 1917.
- 4 syllables, with the stress on syllable 2.
Calliope over time
Births per decade in the United States, 1910s to 2020s. The striped bar is the 2020s, still in progress — it covers 2020 to 2025, not a full ten years.
Show the numbers
| Decade | Births |
|---|---|
| 1910s | 7 |
| 1920s | 43 |
| 1930s | 5 |
| 1950s | 10 |
| 1970s | 5 |
| 1980s | 11 |
| 1990s | 55 |
| 2000s | 287 |
| 2010s | 2,339 |
| 2020s (to 2025) | 3,336 |
What Calliope means
Calliope means beautiful-voiced, from kallos, beauty, and ops, a voice. The name describes a quality of sound, which is exactly right for the Muse who was invoked at the opening of epic poems.
Where Calliope comes from
Calliope comes from the Greek Kalliope, from kallos, beauty — the root of calligraphy and kaleidoscope — and ops, voice. She is the eldest Muse and the one governing epic poetry; both the Iliad and the Odyssey open by calling on a Muse, and she is the one traditionally meant. In the nineteenth century an American inventor gave her name to a steam-whistle organ used on riverboats and at fairgrounds, audible for miles and impossible to play quietly — a joke at the expense of beautiful-voiced that has stuck. The name appears in our records from 1917 and reached its highest use in 2025.
Calliope in use
Calliope charts in only four of the seven countries we track and reached its highest recorded use in 2025.
How popular is Calliope?
In 2025, Calliope was given to 682 babies in the United States, ranking #451 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Where Calliope is used
US figures omit any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so the rarest names are absent from the source rather than absent from use. Data & sources.
How Calliope is spelled
Birth registers count each spelling separately, so every one has its own ranking.
| Spelling | What it is | Births on record |
|---|---|---|
| Calliopé | Calliopé is Calliope written with an acute accent in France, and the spelling parents there overwhelmingly choose: it ranks #1,885 in France, against #6,625 for Calliope. | 200 |
Names that peaked alongside Calliope
These names rose and fell in the same era, which is why they tend to sound like they belong together.
Parents who like Calliope also like
Names whose popularity has risen and fallen in step with Calliope over the last century — the same taste, a different name.
2 nicknames for Calliope
Each one is a name in its own right — the figure underneath is how it is doing today, so you can see which short forms are rising and which have faded.
Calliope in other languages
The same name as it is spelled elsewhere — not shortenings, and not different names that merely sound alike. Each one has its own record here.
Sibling names for Calliope
Names from the same era that won't rhyme or share an initial with Calliope — the two things that make a sibling set grate.
Common questions about Calliope
What does the name Calliope mean?
Beautiful-voiced, from the Greek kallos, beauty, and ops, voice.
Who was Calliope?
The eldest of the nine Muses and the Muse of epic poetry — the one invoked at the opening of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
How do you pronounce Calliope?
kuh-LY-uh-pee, four syllables. The steam organ is often said KAL-ee-ope.
How popular is the name Calliope?
In 2025, Calliope was given to 682 babies in the United States, ranking #451 that year. It is a well-established, commonly used name.
Is Calliope a girl's or a boy's name?
Calliope is given almost entirely to girls in birth records.
How many syllables are in Calliope?
Calliope has 4 syllables.
When was Calliope most popular?
Calliope peaked in 2025, when 682 babies were given the name. It has been rising over the past decade.
What are the nicknames for Calliope?
Calliope is usually shortened to Callie and Poppy.
Is Calliope a good name?
That is not something records can settle, but they can tell you what you would be choosing. Calliope currently ranks #451 in the United States. It has been rising over the past decade. Everything else — how it sounds with your surname, who it reminds you of — is yours.