Blythe
Masculine · “cheerful”
Blythe is given to both — 273 boys and 5,168 girls since 1880. See Blythe as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Blythe entered the US charts in 1915, peaked at #2872 in 1941, ranks #7679 in 2025 — given to only a few children a year.
How old is the name Blythe?
Blythe first appears in US birth records in 1915 — 110 years ago. The typical Blythe alive today was born around 2004, making them about 21 years old. About 200 people named Blythe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Blythe most popular?
Blythe peaked in 1941, reaching #2872 nationally. Today it ranks #7679, 4,807 places below that high. See the whole 1941 chart.
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
- 1915
- Most boys named
- 200011 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2872reached in 1941
- Change vs 2024
- +66.7%10 in 2025, from 6
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
Blythes among us
people named Blythe are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 170,808 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 Bristol 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: Bristol climbed just as high around 1919, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Bristol'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
Blythe beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Blythe in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
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Blythe
Masculine · #7679 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 200 people named Blythe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Blythe in 2025?
- Blythe ranks #7679 among US boy names in 2025, with 10 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Blythe?
- About 1 in every 170,808 US boys born in 2025 was named Blythe — 10 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.
Early#7679 · Obie#7679 · Huston#7679 · Knute#7679 · Rance#7679 · Blain#7679 · Doyle#7679 · Millard#7679
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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