Kal-El (Earth-59)

Krypton's Hope
During the final days of the planet Krypton, the leader of the Kryptonian Military Guild, Dru-Zod, ordered a series of starships be crafted for the people to migrate to the planet Earth and terraform it into a new Krypton. However, Jor-El, leader of the Kryptonian Science Guild and partriarch of the House of El, had worked with his family and had created a series of ships that would launch the family's newborn children: Kal, Kara, Mara, and a Kryptonian Birthing Matrix to be activated afterwards. However, Zod had learnt of the El family's plans and had turned the starships to raze the House of El from existance. But he failed in stopping the ships from being launched, and could only watch as his world was no more.

American Alien
When his ship crashed outside of Smallville, Kansas, he was found by a couple passing by. The couple, Jonathan and Martha Kent, were struggling to have their own children and so they chose to adopt the boy and name him Clark.

Trivia

 * His given name, Kal, means "Beginnings" in ancient Kryptonian.
 * When adopted on Earth, he took the name Clark Kent.
 * Clark is a masculine English name. It means "Scribe, Secretary, Cleric, Scholar, or Clerk."
 * Kent is a long established surname of English decent that derives from the Celtic word "Canto" meaning "Rim" or "Border."