Head to head · Boys' names
Banks vs Blake
#310 vs #316 in 2025
Banks is a whisker ahead (#310 vs #316 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Banks is climbing the charts fast, Blake is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Banks leads 3 measures of 6; Blake leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Banks #786, Blake #857 — Banks higher
- 1890s: Banks #963, Blake #929 — Blake higher
- 1900s: Banks #1079, Blake #1091 — Banks higher
- 1910s: Banks #2165, Blake #1149 — Blake higher
- 1920s: Banks #2207, Blake #1115 — Blake higher
- 1930s: Banks #2634, Blake #1187 — Blake higher
- 1940s: Banks #2915, Blake #912 — Blake higher
- 1950s: Banks #3015, Blake #473 — Blake higher
- 1960s: Banks #4017, Blake #359 — Blake higher
- 1970s: Banks #4976, Blake #334 — Blake higher
- 1980s: Banks #5879, Blake #124 — Blake higher
- 1990s: Banks #6718, Blake #84 — Blake higher
- 2000s: Banks #4595, Blake #87 — Blake higher
- 2010s: Banks #1729, Blake #110 — Blake higher
- 2020s: Banks #448, Blake #246 — Blake higher
Blake stood higher in 13 of 15 decades; Blake has held the lead since the 1910s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Banks | Blake |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #786 | #857 |
| 1890s | #963 | #929 |
| 1900s | #1079 | #1091 |
| 1910s | #2165 | #1149 |
| 1920s | #2207 | #1115 |
| 1930s | #2634 | #1187 |
| 1940s | #2915 | #912 |
| 1950s | #3015 | #473 |
| 1960s | #4017 | #359 |
| 1970s | #4976 | #334 |
| 1980s | #5879 | #124 |
| 1990s | #6718 | #84 |
| 2000s | #4595 | #87 |
| 2010s | #1729 | #110 |
| 2020s | #448 | #246 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Banks
Not charting outside the US.
Blake
- Scotland#41
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Banks
dweller by the bank — a slope, ridge or riverbank
The surname is topographic: it marked a family living by a hillside or the edge of a stream. The plural -s form comes from the older phrasing 'of the banks'.
banki (Old Norse: ridge, mound) → banke (Middle English) → atte Banke / de Bankes → Bankes → Banks
How it traveled
The root is the Middle English word banke, itself from Old Norse banki, meaning a ridge, mound or raised edge of ground — the vocabulary the Norse left behind in the north of England. Medieval English records show the surname in forms such as atte Banke and de Bankes, naming people by the land they lived beside.
Blake
Either "black, dark" or "pale, fair" — the two readings compete
Old English had both blæc, "black or dark," and blāc, "pale, wan, bright." The two words drifted close together in Middle English spelling, and surname scholars have never been able to separate which families got Blake from which. So the name genuinely carries both senses, dark and fair, with no way to choose between them — an unusually neat piece of linguistic accident.
Old English blæc / blāc → Middle English Blake (byname) → Blake (English surname) → Blake (given name)
How it traveled
Blake is an English surname first, of the descriptive kind given to a person for their coloring — dark or fair, depending on which Old English root a given family's name came from. It was well established across England by the Middle Ages, and a branch of Blakes became one of the merchant families of Galway in Ireland.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Banks
BANKS
One syllable, rhyming with thanks. No competing pronunciations in English.
- Banksy — The standard informal -y nickname for people surnamed Banks in Britain and Australia; widely recognized because of the street artist's pseudonym.
- B — Initial-only nickname, informal, used within families and among friends.
Blake
BLAYK
One syllable, rhyming with lake. Spelled the way it sounds in English, and the same for a girl or a boy.
- Blakey — Affectionate extension used within families and on sports teams; rarely written down.
- B — Initial-only informal address, common among friends and siblings.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Banks if you want…
- a name on the way upup 442 places on the charts in five years
Choose Blake if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsBlake is stepping back from its peak
- a name that charts abroad tooBlake is on the national lists of Scotland
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Banks
Strengths
- A word most people can already spell and say correctly without being asked twice.
- One syllable, which sits easily in front of longer middle and last names.
- A documented English surname with a record running back to medieval land-based naming.
To consider
- It is also the everyday word for a financial institution, and the plural of riverbank. Expect the occasional joke, and expect some adults to hear a surname first before they place it as a given name.
- Because it already ends in -s, the possessive is awkward on paper — Banks's — and forms will sometimes come back with the name mangled into Bank.
- Surname-style names move in fast waves. This one is rising sharply and recently, so the name may end up reading as of a particular moment rather than as ageless.
Blake
Strengths
- One syllable and one settled spelling — almost never misheard or misspelled by an English speaker.
- A documented English surname since the Middle Ages, and on American birth records since the nineteenth century.
- Used for boys and girls in near-equal numbers, so neither child is the unusual case.
To consider
- Because the split between boys and girls is close to even, a Blake on paper — a class list, an application — gives no signal either way. Some families like that; others find themselves correcting assumptions.
- The meaning cannot be pinned down, and the two candidates point in opposite directions. If a settled, quotable meaning matters to you, this name will not give you one.
- One hard syllable ending in a k sound offers very little to shorten. Expect Blake itself to do nearly all the work, with no ready pet form waiting in reserve.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Banks and Blake in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Banks and Blake?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Banks and Blake — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Banks or Blake — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Banks or Blake?
- Banks, in 2025: Banks ranked #310 with 1,099 babies; Blake ranked #316 with 1,080 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Banks or Blake?
- Banks. Over the last five years Banks moved up 442 places; Blake moved down 107 places.
- Which is the older name, Banks or Blake?
- Banks entered the US charts in 1883; Blake entered the US charts in 1883. The record dates them to the same year.
- How many people are named Banks and Blake?
- About 6,000 people named Banks are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 179,000 people named Blake are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Bankss or Blakes in the classroom?
- Banks will almost certainly be the only one in school. Blake will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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