There's a handful of ways to spell the name "Kalen".
"K-a-l-e-n," Arizona State Sun Devils junior running back Kalen Ballage said, smoothly reciting the spelling of his name. "I spell it real slow and everything like that."
For Ballage, his first name is derived from the Gaelic word meaning "slender." He says it was given to him by his grandmother.
"I love her to death," he said. "So I just stuck with it and rode it out. I have no idea why she did. She just liked it."
"It's just something different," said Reggie Ballage, Kalen's dad, regarding his son's name.