Calle
A surname with several possible roots, most often linked either to a Spanish word for a street or to a medieval head-dress called a caul/call.
The #6,649 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,645 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is ambiguous because the same spelling appears in several language traditions. In Spanish, calle means “street,” so the name may be locational or topographic, referring to someone who lived by a street or was associated with a particular street. In English records, however, writers such as Bardsley and Baring-Gould connect Calle to a medieval feminine head-dress, the caul or call, suggesting an occupational nickname for someone who made or sold headgear. Earlier antiquarian discussion also points to older English forms related to a covering for the hair, but these explanations are not fully secure.
History
The English surname appears in older notes as a rare name and may be linked to a maker of ladies’ headgear; Sir John Call is cited as a notable bearer of a related form. In Spanish-speaking contexts, Calle can also arise from the common noun for “street,” and the name may have been adopted independently in more than one place. Because the same spelling fits multiple etymologies, bearers of the surname may not share a single origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Victorian surname writers specifically quoted a line about women wearing a “kerchief or calle” when explaining this name, showing how medieval fashion could leave traces in surnames.
From the historical record
“' servant] And with that word he gan unto hym calle ■ A squier, that was marchal of his halle. — Chaucer, Cant. Tales, E 1929-30.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)