Head to head · Boys' names
Blake vs Brady
#316 vs #321 in 2025
Blake is a whisker ahead (#316 vs #321 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Blake is stepping back from its peak, Brady is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Brady has the edge.
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, Blake leads 4 measures of 6; Brady leads 0.
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: Blake #857, Brady #711 — Brady higher
- 1890s: Blake #929, Brady #737 — Brady higher
- 1900s: Blake #1091, Brady #642 — Brady higher
- 1910s: Blake #1149, Brady #749 — Brady higher
- 1920s: Blake #1115, Brady #815 — Brady higher
- 1930s: Blake #1187, Brady #834 — Brady higher
- 1940s: Blake #912, Brady #789 — Brady higher
- 1950s: Blake #473, Brady #631 — Blake higher
- 1960s: Blake #359, Brady #603 — Blake higher
- 1970s: Blake #334, Brady #368 — Blake higher
- 1980s: Blake #124, Brady #294 — Blake higher
- 1990s: Blake #84, Brady #209 — Blake higher
- 2000s: Blake #87, Brady #129 — Blake higher
- 2010s: Blake #110, Brady #195 — Blake higher
- 2020s: Blake #246, Brady #302 — Blake higher
Blake stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Blake has held the lead since the 1950s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Blake | Brady |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #857 | #711 |
| 1890s | #929 | #737 |
| 1900s | #1091 | #642 |
| 1910s | #1149 | #749 |
| 1920s | #1115 | #815 |
| 1930s | #1187 | #834 |
| 1940s | #912 | #789 |
| 1950s | #473 | #631 |
| 1960s | #359 | #603 |
| 1970s | #334 | #368 |
| 1980s | #124 | #294 |
| 1990s | #84 | #209 |
| 2000s | #87 | #129 |
| 2010s | #110 | #195 |
| 2020s | #246 | #302 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Blake
- Scotland#41
Brady
Not charting outside the US.
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
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.
Brady
from the Irish byname brádach, read either as "spirited" or as "thieving, deceitful"
The surname Ó Brádaigh means "descendant of Brádach," and the byname itself is what scholars disagree about. Irish brádach has been glossed both as "spirited" and, less flatteringly, as "thieving" or "fraudulent" — bynames in medieval Ireland were often given by neighbors rather than chosen. A third reading connects it to bráighe, "throat, chest," giving something like "broad-chested." No one reading has won out.
brádach (Irish byname) → Ó Brádaigh → Brady
How it traveled
The Ó Brádaigh were a Gaelic family of Breifne, the territory covering modern Cavan and part of Leitrim, and they held land there through the medieval period as one of the region's ruling kindreds. Anglicized as Brady, the name spread widely through Ireland and then, in the nineteenth century, through the Irish emigration to the United States, where it became one of the more common Irish surnames on the continent.
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
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.
Brady
BRAY-dee
Stress on the first syllable. One pronunciation everywhere in the English-speaking world, and it matches the spelling exactly.
- B — Initial-only, used informally among friends and family; Brady is short enough that it usually travels whole.
- Brade — An informal clipping heard occasionally, more often from teammates and schoolmates than from adults.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Blake if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsBlake is stepping back from its peak
- a name with fewer syllablesBlake is 1 syllable to Brady's 2
- a name that charts abroad tooBlake is on the national lists of Scotland
- a name that feels very nowBlake is stepping back from its peak
Choose Brady if you want…
- a name with more sound in itBrady runs 2 syllables, Blake 1
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 40% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 71% for Blake
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
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.
Brady
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds and read correctly on first sight by nearly any English speaker.
- Two clear syllables with the stress up front — easy to call across a yard, easy for a small child to say.
- A documented Irish family name with an unbroken record stretching back to medieval Breifne.
To consider
- It is strongly attached to one enormously famous American athlete, and for many people that association arrives before anything else. It fades over decades, but expect a comment or two in the early years.
- The Brady Bunch keeps the surname in circulation for anyone who grew up with reruns — a mild, mostly affectionate association rather than a problem.
- One of the competing readings of the old Irish byname is "thieving" rather than "spirited." It is a nickname from a thousand years ago and carries nothing forward, but it is there if anyone goes looking.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Blake
71%chance Blake feels dated by 2040
Blake is coming down from a big peak (#71 in 2012). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
Brady
40%chance Brady feels dated by 2040
Brady sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Blake and Brady 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 Blake and Brady?
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 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 Blake and Brady — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Blake or Brady — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Blake or Brady?
- Blake, in 2025: Blake ranked #316 with 1,080 babies; Brady ranked #321 with 1,071 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Blake or Brady?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Blake moved down 107 places; Brady moved down 17 places.
- Which is the older name, Blake or Brady?
- Blake entered the US charts in 1883; Brady entered the US charts in 1883. The record dates them to the same year.
- How many people are named Blake and Brady?
- About 179,000 people named Blake are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 92,000 people named Brady are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Blakes or Bradys in the classroom?
- Blake will almost certainly be the only one in school. Brady 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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