Blake
Masculine · “Either "black”
Blake is given to both — 186,558 boys and 20,065 girls since 1880. See Blake as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Blake began as an English surname, and one of the more contrary ones: it can be traced to two Old English words that sound alike and mean opposite things. It has been on American birth records since the nineteenth century, has climbed and eased back without ever disappearing, and still charts in Scotland. One syllable, one obvious spelling, and a hard final consonant that lands cleanly.
How old is the name Blake?
Blake first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Blake alive today was born around 2001, making them about 24 years old. About 179,000 people named Blake are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Blake most popular?
Blake peaked in 2012, reaching #71 nationally. Today it ranks #316, 245 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Where it comes from
From Old English blæc / blāc to Blake
The story of Blake
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. The poet and engraver William Blake, working in London in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, made the surname familiar far beyond the families who carried it. Its move to the front of the name, as an American first name, follows the long habit of turning English surnames into given names, and it has been on the records here since the nineteenth century.
Meaningscholars disagree
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.
How the name formed
- Old English blæc / blāc
- Middle English Blakebyname
- BlakeEnglish surname
- Blakegiven name
Pronouncing Blake
BLAYK
One syllable, rhyming with lake. Spelled the way it sounds in English, and the same for a girl or a boy.
Nicknames for Blake
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
- 1883
- Most boys named
- 20126,047 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #71reached in 2012
- Change vs 2022
- −31.7%1,080 in 2025, from 1,581
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.
Blake in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida. International figures from National Records of Scotland. Sources
Blakes among us
people named Blake are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 1,582 born in 2025 was named Blake
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Allen test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Blake's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Allen climbed just as high around 1940, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Allen's path sketches the road Blake is walking now.
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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Blake is headed
Blake is easing off slowly — about 17% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Blake beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Blake in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- Familiar enough to need no explaining, yet a Blake will most likely be the only one in a school.
- Also charts in Scotland, so it reads normally in more than one English-speaking country.
- 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.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Blake to the vote.
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What they receive
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Blake
Masculine · #316 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Blakes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 179,000 people named Blake are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Blake in 2025?
- Blake ranks #316 among US boy names in 2025, with 1,080 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Blake?
- About 1 in every 1,582 US boys born in 2025 was named Blake — 1,080 in all.
- Will my child share the name Blake with classmates?
- Blake will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Blake
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zyaire#317 · Israel#315 · Sullivan#314 · Cody#318 · Eliam#313 · Dakota#319 · Mathias#312 · Casey#320
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Blake? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Blake and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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