Hiya, and thanks for your question and Arjen has kind of touched on the Christan historical side in his answer. Let me add to that.
It would be foolish of me to assume that western influences in East Africa did not have any bearings on the useage of the name Caleb or Kaleb. The more I seek the more I learn.
BIBLE - OLD TESTAMENT
Caleb was one of 12 spies/scouts sent out by Moses as the wandering Israelites left Egypt to find their home in the land that God had promised them. Joshua and Caleb were the only 2 that returned with positive reports. On their reports Moses moved forward and of course the rest is history.
Definitions of Caleb vary from 'dog' to 'forceful'....I am not so happy with the former but can understand the latter.
Further to my comment above regarding outside influences into the Swahili language I would prefer to think that the name of Kaleb came from the migration of peoples from Egypt/Ethiopa/Sudan as they took their soundly based religious beliefs with them. I would hate to think it was white missionaries from Mombasa who had books of names and just handed them out.
Archie
Jan 26, 2010
Not clear if this is a Swahili name... by: Arjen (webmaster)
Jacob, the Swahili dictionary doesn't know the word. If I search the internet on meaning of names, I do not find a meaning in Swahili.
I only find the Jewish/biblical meaning which most of the time is given as, "The devoted one". Kaleb was a companion of Moses in the Bible. Maybe this name was born out of a Christian inspiration? The countries where Swahili is spoken are largely Christian.
But perhaps someone more knowledgeable has a better answer.
