Head to head · Girls' names
Blakely vs Tatum
#191 vs #189 in 2025
Tatum is a whisker ahead (#189 vs #191 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Tatum is climbing the charts fast, Blakely is holding its place on the charts.
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, Tatum leads 5 measures of 6; Blakely leads 1.
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
- 1960s: Blakely #7471, Tatum #6564 — Tatum higher
- 1970s: Blakely #6129, Tatum #1504 — Tatum higher
- 1980s: Blakely #4251, Tatum #1695 — Tatum higher
- 1990s: Blakely #3324, Tatum #961 — Tatum higher
- 2000s: Blakely #2537, Tatum #378 — Tatum higher
- 2010s: Blakely #473, Tatum #378 — Tatum higher
- 2020s: Blakely #166, Tatum #253 — Blakely higher
Tatum stood higher in 6 of 7 decades; Blakely took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Blakely | Tatum |
|---|---|---|
| 1960s | #7471 | #6564 |
| 1970s | #6129 | #1504 |
| 1980s | #4251 | #1695 |
| 1990s | #3324 | #961 |
| 2000s | #2537 | #378 |
| 2010s | #473 | #378 |
| 2020s | #166 | #253 |
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
Blakely
'dark wood or clearing' — or 'pale clearing'
The second element is not in doubt: Old English lēah, a wood, glade or clearing, the same ending behind Ashley, Bradley and Kimberley. The first element is the old puzzle. Old English blæc means 'black, dark', while blāc means 'pale, shining' — the two words look nearly identical in early manuscripts and both fed the surnames Blake, Blakeley and Blakely. Place-name scholars accept either reading, and which one applies depends on the particular English hamlet a given family came from.
Old English blæc / blāc + lēah → Blakeley (English place name) → Blakely (English surname) → Blakely (American given name)
How it traveled
The name starts as English geography. Settlements and farmsteads called Blakeley or Blakely appear in the north and midlands of England, and families who lived at or near them took the name with them as a hereditary surname in the Middle Ages.
Tatum
Tata's homestead
From the Old English personal name Tata plus hām, "homestead" or "village" — the source of the Lancashire place name Tatham and the surname Tatum. What Tata itself meant is not established; it looks like an affectionate short name of the kind Old English used freely.
Tata → Tatham → Tatum
How it traveled
The name starts on the ground: a settlement in northern England named for whoever held it, recorded as Tatham and later smoothed to Tatum. Like thousands of English place-names, it became a family name, and it crossed the Atlantic that way — carried by families, not by parents choosing it for a baby.
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
Blakely
BLAYK-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Some speakers stretch it to three, BLAY-kuh-lee, but the two-syllable version dominates. No silent letters and no trap in it — anyone who can read Blake can read this.
- Blake — The obvious short form, and a long-established given name in its own right — historically given mostly to boys in the US, now used for both.
- Blakes — Informal, family-and-friends use; the plural-sounding nickname pattern common with one-syllable short forms.
- Lee — Drawn from the ending rather than the beginning; a standalone given name and middle name of long standing.
- B — Initial-only, used informally among peers rather than by adults.
Tatum
TAY-tum
Two syllables, stress on the first. The spelling gives the sound away, so it survives a phone call and a roll call without correction.
- Tate — The obvious short form, and a well-established given name in its own right for boys and girls.
- Tay — Informal, family-and-friends use.
- Tatie — Informal, mostly used with small children.
Who has carried each name
Blakely
No documented entry for Blakely yet.
Tatum
Tatum O'Neal (b. 1963) — Youngest competitive Oscar winner ever — at age 10
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 Blakely if you want…
- a name holding steadyBlakely is holding its place on the charts
Choose Tatum if you want…
- a name on the way upup 154 places on the charts in five years
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
Blakely
Strengths
- Built on Blake, a spelling almost every American already knows, so it is rarely misheard once spoken and rarely misread once written.
- Comes with a short form, Blake, that stands on its own as a full given name — useful room for a child who later wants something briefer.
- A documented line back to Old English words for wood and clearing, and centuries of use as an English surname before it was ever a first name.
To consider
- It sits in a large family of similar-sounding girls' names — Everly, Presley, Kimberly, Emberly — and will sometimes be misheard as one of them, especially over the phone.
- The rival spellings Blakeley, Blakelee and Blakelyn all exist, so expect to spell it aloud fairly often even though it looks straightforward.
- Its use as a girl's given name is very recent, so for now the name reads as belonging to one young generation. That is how Ashley and Kimberly once read too.
Tatum
Strengths
- Reads and spells itself: anyone who sees Tatum says it right the first time, and anyone who hears it writes it right.
- Works for a boy or a girl with no change in spelling or sound — the split is close to even in American records.
- Comes with Tate ready-made as a short form, itself a real name rather than a coinage.
To consider
- Because it is given almost equally to boys and girls, forms, teachers and strangers will guess wrong about half the time. That is easy to correct but it will happen for life.
- It is rising quickly. A Tatum starting school now will likely be the only one in the building, but the name may feel considerably more familiar by the time that child is grown.
- Tatum is a surname as well as a first name — there are well-known people who carry it as a last name — so it can occasionally read as a surname on a list or a form.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Blakely
40%chance Blakely feels dated by 2040
Blakely 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.
Tatum
56%chance Tatum feels dated by 2040
Tatum is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
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 Blakely and Tatum 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 Blakely and Tatum?
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 Blakely and Tatum — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Blakely or Tatum — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Blakely or Tatum?
- Tatum, in 2025: Tatum ranked #189 with 1,661 babies; Blakely ranked #191 with 1,638 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Blakely or Tatum?
- Tatum. Over the last five years Blakely moved down 24 places; Tatum moved up 154 places.
- Which is the older name, Blakely or Tatum?
- Blakely entered the US charts in 1969; Tatum entered the US charts in 1966. On the American record, Tatum is the older name.
- How many people are named Blakely and Tatum?
- About 20,500 people named Blakely are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 28,500 people named Tatum are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Blakelys or Tatums in the classroom?
- Blakely will almost certainly be the only one in school. Tatum 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
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