Head to head · Boys' names
Blake vs Israel
#316 vs #315 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
Israel is a whisker ahead (#315 vs #316 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. 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, Israel 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: Blake #857, Israel #395 — Israel higher
- 1890s: Blake #929, Israel #500 — Israel higher
- 1900s: Blake #1091, Israel #506 — Israel higher
- 1910s: Blake #1149, Israel #478 — Israel higher
- 1920s: Blake #1115, Israel #608 — Israel higher
- 1930s: Blake #1187, Israel #689 — Israel higher
- 1940s: Blake #912, Israel #663 — Israel higher
- 1950s: Blake #473, Israel #539 — Blake higher
- 1960s: Blake #359, Israel #483 — Blake higher
- 1970s: Blake #334, Israel #334
- 1980s: Blake #124, Israel #321 — Blake higher
- 1990s: Blake #84, Israel #279 — Blake higher
- 2000s: Blake #87, Israel #225 — Blake higher
- 2010s: Blake #110, Israel #236 — Blake higher
- 2020s: Blake #246, Israel #254 — Blake higher
The decades split evenly, 7 each; Blake has held the lead since the 1950s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Blake | Israel |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #857 | #395 |
| 1890s | #929 | #500 |
| 1900s | #1091 | #506 |
| 1910s | #1149 | #478 |
| 1920s | #1115 | #608 |
| 1930s | #1187 | #689 |
| 1940s | #912 | #663 |
| 1950s | #473 | #539 |
| 1960s | #359 | #483 |
| 1970s | #334 | #334 |
| 1980s | #124 | #321 |
| 1990s | #84 | #279 |
| 2000s | #87 | #225 |
| 2010s | #110 | #236 |
| 2020s | #246 | #254 |
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
Israel
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.
Israel
"he strives with God" or "God contends"
The name joins a Hebrew root meaning to strive or contend with El, God. Genesis reads it as the human striving: Jacob is told he has struggled with God and with men and prevailed. Many Semitic scholars read the grammar the other way, with God as the one who contends or rules. Both readings are old and serious, and neither has pushed the other out.
Yisra'el (Hebrew) → Israēl (Greek) → Israel (Latin) → Israel (English, Spanish)
How it traveled
The name appears in Genesis, where Jacob wrestles through the night at the ford of the Jabbok and is given the new name Israel; his descendants become the twelve tribes, and the name passes from a person to a people to a land. Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible wrote it Israēl, Latin kept it, and it reached English unaltered — one of the few biblical names that never needed reshaping.
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.
Israel
IZ-ree-uhl
The common English pronunciation; IZ-ray-el is also heard. In Spanish it is ees-rrah-EL, with the stress on the last syllable. A household that uses both languages will hear both, and neither is a correction of the other.
- Izzy — The usual informal English short form; also serves Isaac, Isaiah, Isabel and Isadora, so it rarely points to one name alone.
- Isra — The standard short form in Spanish-speaking use, common among friends and family.
- Iz — Clipped and casual, mostly spoken rather than written.
- Srulik — A Yiddish diminutive of Yisroel, used in Yiddish-speaking and Israeli contexts rather than general American ones.
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 Israel's 3
- a name that charts abroad tooBlake is on the national lists of Scotland
- a newer arrivalBlake entered the US charts in 1883
Choose Israel if you want…
- a name with more sound in itIsrael runs 3 syllables, Blake 1
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Izzy, Isra and Iz
- a long American recordIsrael was already in use when US records began in 1880
- 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.
Israel
Strengths
- Spelled one way everywhere — no one has to ask which version, and it looks the same in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
- Present in American records for as long as such records have been kept, without a break.
- Has real short forms already in use: Izzy in English, Isra in Spanish.
To consider
- Israel is also the name of a modern country, and a politically charged one. That association follows the name in the news and in conversation, and it is worth deciding in advance how you feel about answering questions about it.
- The English and Spanish pronunciations are genuinely different, and a child may spend some time deciding which one they use with whom — or simply answering to both.
- Izzy is shared with several other names, so the nickname will not identify him the way the full name does.
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.
Israel
40%chance Israel feels dated by 2040
Israel 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 Israel 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 Israel?
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 Blake and Israel — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Blake or Israel — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Blake or Israel?
- Israel, in 2025: Israel ranked #315 with 1,081 babies; Blake ranked #316 with 1,080 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Blake or Israel?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Blake moved down 107 places; Israel moved down 78 places.
- Which is the older name, Blake or Israel?
- Blake entered the US charts in 1883; Israel was already in use when US records began in 1880. On the American record, Israel is the older name.
- How many people are named Blake and Israel?
- About 179,000 people named Blake are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 65,000 people named Israel are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Blakes or Israels in the classroom?
- Blake will almost certainly be the only one in school. Israel 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
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Blake, Israel and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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