Blythe
Feminine · “cheerful”
Blythe is given to both — 5,168 girls and 273 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Blythe is the Old English bliðe — happy, gentle, kind — and the modern 'blithe' has drifted toward carelessness, which the name has not.
How old is the name Blythe?
Blythe first appears in US birth records in 1897 — 128 years ago. The typical Blythe alive today was born around 2002, making them about 23 years old. About 4,900 people named Blythe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Blythe most popular?
Blythe peaked in 1974, reaching #1076 nationally. Today it ranks #2051, 975 places below that high. See the whole 1974 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From bliðe to Blythe
The story of Blythe
Bliðe meant kindly as much as merry in Old English, and bliss comes from the same root. Shelley's 'Hail to thee, blithe Spirit' opens the skylark ode. The surname produced a given name in America, and Blythe appears in the registers in current use.
Meaning
cheerful, kindly
From the Old English bliðe, 'joyous', 'gentle' or 'kind', which gives both the modern blithe and the noun bliss. The word's sense narrowed toward heedlessness in phrases like 'blithe disregard'. The surname is a byname for a cheerful person. The etymology is documented.
How the name formed
- bliðe
- blithe
- Blythe
Related forms: Blithe · Blyth
Pronouncing Blythe
BLYTH
One syllable with a soft th. Some speakers use a hard th as in 'thin'.
Nicknames for Blythe
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
- 1897
- Most girls named
- 2014169 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1076reached in 1974
- Change vs 2023
- −14.8%92 in 2025, from 108
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.
Blythe in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Blithe in English — spelling variant
- Blyth in Scottish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, California, North Carolina.
Blythes among us
people named Blythe are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 17,470 born in 2025 was named Blythe
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 Carletta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Blythe's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carletta climbed just as high around 1954, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carletta's path sketches the road Blythe is walking now.
Blythe 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 Blythe is headed
Blythe 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.
Blythe beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Blythe in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- That bliss and blithe come from the same word is a first-rate etymology.
- The cheerful-and-kindly meaning is warm and transparent.
- One syllable, clean, and immediately distinctive.
- The modern 'blithe' has drifted toward meaning careless.
- The th is voiced by some speakers and not others.
- It reads as a surname to many people.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Blythe
Feminine · #2051 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Blythes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,900 people named Blythe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Blythe in 2025?
- Blythe ranks #2051 among US girl names in 2025, with 92 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Blythe?
- About 1 in every 17,470 US girls born in 2025 was named Blythe — 92 in all.
- Will my child share the name Blythe with classmates?
- Blythe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Blythe
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Marla#2051 · Yvonne#2051 · Star#2051 · Sade#2051 · Ryah#2051 · Jaylynn#2051 · Amya#2051 · Marta#2051
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Blythe? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Blythe and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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