Blaze
Masculine · “Bright flame' as an English word”
Blaze is given to both — 8,508 boys and 602 girls since 1880. See Blaze as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Blaze is a single bright syllable that lands the same way for everyone who reads it — no second guesses, no spelling lesson. Behind the modern-looking spelling sits one of the older names in Europe, carried by a fourth-century bishop and scattered across the continent as Blas, Biagio and Blaž. It has been turning up quietly in American records for a full century, never crowding a classroom, never disappearing either.
How old is the name Blaze?
Blaze first appears in US birth records in 1921 — 104 years ago. The typical Blaze alive today was born around 2012, making them about 13 years old. About 8,400 people named Blaze are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Blaze most popular?
Blaze peaked in 2015, reaching #707 nationally. Today it ranks #781, 74 places below that high. See the whole 2015 chart.
Blaze appears on these lists:
Where it comes from
From Blasius to Blaze
The story of Blaze
The older line begins with Latin Blasius, the name of Saint Blaise, a bishop and martyr venerated from the fourth century onward and invoked in medieval Europe against illnesses of the throat. His cult spread widely enough to seed a name in nearly every Catholic language: Blaise in France, Blas in Spain, Biagio in Italy, Blaž among the South Slavs. The spelling Blaze belongs to a different and very American habit — writing a name the way it sounds, and letting it double as a plain English word. That word already had its own frontier history here, in the blaze marked on a tree to show a trail and the blaze on a horse's forehead.
Meaningscholars disagree
'Bright flame' as an English word; also an English respelling of Blaise
Two roads meet at this spelling. Read as the English noun, it means a bright fire — and, in older American usage, the white stripe on a horse's face or a mark cut into a tree to mark a trail. Read as a phonetic form of Blaise, it goes back to Latin Blasius, usually traced to blaesus, 'lisping' or 'stammering'. Most American parents hear the fire word; both readings are genuinely present.
How the name formed
- Blasius
- Blaise
- Blaze
Related forms: Blaise · Blas · Biagio · Blaž · Brás · Blasius
Pronouncing Blaze
BLAYZ
One syllable, rhyming with 'days'. Identical in sound to the French-derived Blaise, so the two spellings are heard the same and only differ on paper.
Nicknames for Blaze
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
- 1921
- Most boys named
- 2015354 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #707reached in 2015
- Change vs 2024
- −3.0%326 in 2025, from 336
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.
Blaze in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Blaise in French — same name
- Blas in Spanish — same name
- Biagio in Italian — same name
- Blaž in Slovene / Croatian — same name
- Brás in Portuguese — same name
- Blasius in Latin — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, Florida.
Blazes among us
people named Blaze are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 5,239 born in 2025 was named Blaze
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 Arnulfo test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Blaze's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Arnulfo climbed just as high around 1951, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Arnulfo's path sketches the road Blaze is walking now.
Blaze 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
Where Blaze is headed
Blaze should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Blaze beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Blaze in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, one obvious pronunciation: nobody has to be told how to say it, in any American accent.
- The spelling is an everyday English word, so it is read correctly on sight even by people meeting it for the first time.
- Sits on a documented European name line — Blaise, Blas, Biagio, Blaž — giving it relatives in several languages.
- Rare enough that a child is unlikely to share it with a classmate, while still being on the American record for a century.
- 'Blaze' is also slang for smoking cannabis, and that association is well established among teenagers and adults. It will come up at some point, usually as a joke rather than a problem.
- The word meaning is loud and literal — fire — so the name arrives with an image attached in a way that Blaise does not. Some people will assume it is a nickname or a stage name.
- There is almost nothing to shorten, which suits some families and leaves others without a softer everyday option.
- Expect it to be written 'Blaise' by people who know the older spelling, and expect to correct that now and then.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Blaze to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
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Already decided on Blaze? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Blaze
Masculine · #781 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Blazes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 8,400 people named Blaze are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Blaze in 2025?
- Blaze ranks #781 among US boy names in 2025, with 326 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Blaze?
- About 1 in every 5,239 US boys born in 2025 was named Blaze — 326 in all.
- Will my child share the name Blaze with classmates?
- Blaze will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Blaze
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Kyree#781 · Tony#783 · Skyler#783 · Corey#778 · Zamir#778 · Dutton#778 · Alvaro#777 · Jamison#785
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Blaze? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Blaze 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. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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