Head to head · Girls' names
Blair vs Gemma
#169 vs #170 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Blair is a whisker ahead (#169 vs #170 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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, Blair leads 4 measures of 6; Gemma 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
- 1900s: Blair —, Gemma #1687 — Gemma higher
- 1910s: Blair #3904, Gemma #1591 — Gemma higher
- 1920s: Blair #4154, Gemma #1964 — Gemma higher
- 1930s: Blair #3856, Gemma #2277 — Gemma higher
- 1940s: Blair #3365, Gemma #2204 — Gemma higher
- 1950s: Blair #2155, Gemma #1906 — Gemma higher
- 1960s: Blair #1973, Gemma #2255 — Blair higher
- 1970s: Blair #2209, Gemma #2762 — Blair higher
- 1980s: Blair #503, Gemma #2382 — Blair higher
- 1990s: Blair #654, Gemma #1855 — Blair higher
- 2000s: Blair #1265, Gemma #1176 — Gemma higher
- 2010s: Blair #680, Gemma #291 — Gemma higher
- 2020s: Blair #260, Gemma #191 — Gemma higher
Gemma stood higher in 9 of 13 decades; Gemma has held the lead since the 2000s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Blair | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| 1900s | — | #1687 |
| 1910s | #3904 | #1591 |
| 1920s | #4154 | #1964 |
| 1930s | #3856 | #2277 |
| 1940s | #3365 | #2204 |
| 1950s | #2155 | #1906 |
| 1960s | #1973 | #2255 |
| 1970s | #2209 | #2762 |
| 1980s | #503 | #2382 |
| 1990s | #654 | #1855 |
| 2000s | #1265 | #1176 |
| 2010s | #680 | #291 |
| 2020s | #260 | #191 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Blair
plain, field
From Scottish Gaelic blàr. The same word carries the sense of 'battlefield' — an open field being where battles were fought — so both readings trace to one root rather than competing.
blàr (Scottish Gaelic: plain, field) → Blair (Scottish place name) → Blair (Scottish surname) → Blair (given name)
How it traveled
The word blàr described level, treeless ground, and it stuck to dozens of Scottish places before it stuck to any person. Families who held or came from those places — Blair Atholl in Perthshire among them — carried the name south and then across the Atlantic.
Gemma
Gem, precious stone
Directly from Latin gemma, which meant both a bud on a vine and a jewel. Italian kept the word unchanged as a given name.
Latin gemma → Italian Gemma → Catalan/Spanish Gema → English Gemma
How it traveled
Gemma began as an ordinary Latin noun and became a personal name in medieval Italy, where it was given as a term of endearment — the child as the jewel. Its best-known early bearer is Gemma Donati, the Florentine woman who married Dante Alighieri in the late thirteenth century.
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
Blair
BLAIR
One syllable, rhyming with air and hair. Rarely misheard, though it is sometimes written Blaire.
- B — An initial used casually within families; the full name is short enough that most Blairs go through life unshortened.
- Bee — Informal and affectionate, used at home rather than at school or work.
- Bear — A sound-based household nickname, entirely informal.
Gemma
JEM-uh
Soft G, as in gem, in English, Italian and Catalan alike. A hard-G reading (GHEM-ah) is the usual first guess from speakers of languages where G stays hard before E, so expect to correct it now and then.
- Gem — The standard short form in English, informal, and occasionally written Jem.
- Gemmy — Family-level diminutive, mostly used with small children.
- Em — Occasional, borrowed from the second syllable; more common where an Emma or Emily is not already in the house.
Who has carried each name
Blair
No documented entry for Blair yet.
Gemma
Gemma Chan (b. 1982) — Crazy Rich Asians star
Gemma Arterton (b. 1986) — Bond girl turned acclaimed stage actress
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Blair if you want…
- a name on the way upup 166 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesBlair is 1 syllable to Gemma's 2
Choose Gemma if you want…
- a name with more sound in itGemma runs 2 syllables, Blair 1
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
Blair
Strengths
- One syllable, phonetic, and spelled the way an English speaker would guess — little correcting over a lifetime.
- A documented Scottish surname and place name going back centuries, so the name rests on real history rather than a recent coinage.
- Recognized across the English-speaking world, where Scottish surnames as first names are a long-standing habit.
To consider
- Blair is used for boys as well as girls, and always has been. On paper, before anyone meets her, readers may guess either way — worth knowing rather than worrying about.
- The Blaire spelling exists and is common enough that people will occasionally add the e. A quick correction, but a lifelong one.
- In Britain the name reads first as a surname, thanks to a former prime minister; that association is much fainter in the United States.
Gemma
Strengths
- Spells itself from the sound and reads correctly on sight for most English speakers, with no variant spellings competing for attention.
- Transparent meaning — the Latin word for jewel, unchanged — so the sense never needs explaining or defending.
- Works unaltered in Italian, Catalan and Dutch, and needs only one dropped letter in Spanish.
To consider
- It rhymes closely with Emma, one of the most-used girls' names of the past few decades. Expect the occasional mishearing on the phone and in classrooms where an Emma is already sitting.
- The soft G is not obvious to everyone. Speakers of Italian aside, people who read it before they hear it sometimes try a hard G, and the correction becomes a small lifelong habit.
- The name is climbing steadily in the US rather than holding flat, so a child born now may meet more Gemmas at twenty than at five — worth knowing if rarity is part of the appeal.
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 Blair and Gemma 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 Blair and Gemma?
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 Blair and Gemma — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Blair or Gemma — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Blair or Gemma?
- Blair, in 2025: Blair ranked #169 with 1,806 babies; Gemma ranked #170 with 1,805 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Blair or Gemma?
- Blair. Over the last five years Blair moved up 166 places; Gemma moved up 38 places.
- Which is the older name, Blair or Gemma?
- Blair entered the US charts in 1914; Gemma entered the US charts in 1904. On the American record, Gemma is the older name.
- How many people are named Blair and Gemma?
- About 23,000 people named Blair are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 25,000 people named Gemma are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Blairs or Gemmas in the classroom?
- Blair will almost certainly be the only one in school. Gemma will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Blair, Gemma and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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