Blenda
Feminine
Blenda is a Swedish legend and a legal peculiarity. The story says the women of a southern province got a Danish army drunk and killed it while the men were away, and that the province's women were granted equal inheritance with their brothers as a reward — an unusual right which the province genuinely had.
How old is the name Blenda?
Blenda first appears in US birth records in 1898 — 127 years ago. The typical Blenda alive today was born around 1952, making them about 73 years old. About 700 people named Blenda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Blenda most popular?
Blenda peaked in 1951, reaching #1224 nationally. See the whole 1951 chart.
Where it comes from
From a Swedish province with unusual inheritance rights for women to Blenda
The story of Blenda
The legend is late and the law is real, which is the interesting part. Women in the province of Varend did hold equal inheritance rights with their brothers, unusually for medieval Sweden, and by the seventeenth century a story had grown up to explain it: a Danish raid, the men away at war, a feast laid on by the women, and a massacre in the night. Historians regard the story as an explanation invented backwards from the law. What it shows is that a genuine legal oddity will attract a story to account for it, and that the story will eventually be believed more firmly than the law it was invented to explain.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The name is Swedish and its origin is disputed; it may be built on a word meaning to dazzle or to shine, and it may have been coined for the legend rather than the other way round. In the American record it is at least as likely to be a coincidental assembly by an English-speaking family, since it looks like a great many other names of its period. Nothing distinguishes the two on a certificate.
How the name formed
- a Swedish province with unusual inheritance rights for women
- a legend grows up to explain the law
- Blenda used as a Swedish name
- carried to America with Scandinavian migration
- appears in the record from the 1890s
Related forms: Blenda · Blenda
Pronouncing Blenda
BLEN-duh
Two syllables, stress at the front. The Swedish pronunciation is nearly identical, which is unusual for a Scandinavian name in American mouths.
Nicknames for Blenda
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
- 1898
- Most girls named
- 195157 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1224reached in 1951
- Change vs 1992
- 0.0%5 in 1993, from 5
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.
Blenda in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Blenda in Swedish — same name
- Blenda in English — same name
Blendas among us
people named Blenda are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Blenda sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is short, strong and read correctly at sight in English and Swedish alike.
- It has a genuinely striking legend behind it for anybody who wants one.
- It is unrepeated in America — a girl carrying it will not meet another.
- It will be heard as Brenda and Glenda by nearly everybody.
- The Swedish origin is not certain and the American use may be independent.
- The name is out of use in both countries.
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Blenda
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Blendas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 700 people named Blenda are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Blenda in 2025?
- Blenda is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Blenda with classmates?
- Blenda will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Barbara#968 · Betty#1113 · Brenda#1525 · Beverly#1016 · Brittany#928 · Bonnie#396 · Brianna#222 · Bertha#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Blenda? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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