Blaine
Feminine · “yellow”
Blaine is given to both — 1,236 girls and 33,071 boys since 1880. See Blaine as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Blaine is an Irish and Scottish saint's name that became a surname, then an American place name, then a given name on both sexes. Saint Blane founded a monastery on the Isle of Bute in the sixth century, and the Gaelic name behind him is built on a word for yellow. Its American peak on girls is 1981.
How old is the name Blaine?
Blaine first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Blaine alive today was born around 1995, making them about 30 years old. About 1,200 people named Blaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Blaine most popular?
Blaine peaked in 1981, reaching #2529 nationally. Today it ranks #5917, 3,388 places below that high. See the whole 1981 chart.
Where it comes from
From bla to Blaine
The story of Blaine
Saint Blane was a sixth-century bishop associated with Kingarth on Bute and with Dunblane in Perthshire, whose cathedral carries his name. The surname derives from him or from the place. Irish and Scottish emigration brought it to America, where James G. Blaine, Secretary of State and the Republican candidate for president in 1884, made it nationally familiar; several American towns are named for him. Its use as a given name is twentieth-century and has always been mostly male, with a female share that rose in the 1970s and 1980s alongside Blair, Shane and Shea.
Meaningscholars disagree
yellow, or slender
Gaelic Blaan is generally derived from bla, 'yellow', with a diminutive ending — so 'little yellow one', probably a description of hair color. A competing reading connects it to a word meaning thin or slender. Neither is fully secure, which is normal for early Gaelic personal names. The English spelling Blaine reflects the anglicization of Blaan and has been stable for centuries.
How the name formed
- bla
- Blaan
- Blaine
Related forms: Blaan · Blan · Blane
Pronouncing Blaine
BLAYN
One syllable, rhyming with plain. There is no ambiguity in the spelling and nobody has to be taught it.
Nicknames for Blaine
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1915
- Most girls named
- 198838 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2529reached in 1981
- Change vs 2024
- −41.2%20 in 2025, from 34
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Blaine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Blaan in Scottish Gaelic — related form
- Blan in Irish — related form
- Blane in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas.
Blaines among us
people named Blaine are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was named Blaine
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Blaine
- #5917
- Blaine on the 2025 chart
- #924
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Blaine went to 20 girls in 2025, but Blayne is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 36, which makes it the 924th most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,993 places above the chart.
- Blaine20
- Blayne16
About 1 girl in 44,646 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 80,363 for Blaine itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Marlisa test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Blaine's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marlisa climbed just as high around 1964, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marlisa's path sketches the road Blaine is walking now.
Blaine 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 scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Blaine beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Blaine in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and six letters, immediately sayable and spellable.
- It has a documented sixth-century saint and a Scottish cathedral behind it.
- It works on either sex with real use on both.
- It is far more common on boys and forms will often assume male.
- It is easily heard as Blair, Elaine or Blayne.
- The Gaelic derivation is not fully secure, so the meaning needs a qualifier.
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What they receive
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Blaine
Feminine · #5917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Blaines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,200 people named Blaine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Blaine?
- Blaine is the most-used spelling in US records — 20 of the 36 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Blayne.
- How popular is the name Blaine in 2025?
- Blaine ranks #5917 among US girl names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Blaine?
- About 1 in every 80,363 US girls born in 2025 was named Blaine — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Blaine with classmates?
- Blaine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Blaine
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elda#5917 · Saloma#5917 · Fawn#5917 · Sarafina#5917 · Jaymie#5917 · Jania#5917 · Kimberlynn#5917 · Patsy#5917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Blaine? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Blaine and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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