Blain
From the Old English name Blæcman meaning "black" or "swarthy man".
Name Census estimates that about 1,917 living Americans carry the first name Blain. It is a predominantly male name (99.3% of registrations). The average person named Blain today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Blain births was 2003 (58 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Blain. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Blain with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.9K
~ 1 in 178,797 Americans
Peak year
2003
58 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,008
Tracked since 1884
Census
Blain in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,868 people with the first name Blain, which placed it at #7,916 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#7,916
National first-name rank
People counted
1.9K
1,868 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
84.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Blain
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blain is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.4%) and Hispanic (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Blain described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Blain at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White84.4% · 1,577
- Black or African American6.4% · 120
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 61
- Two or more races3.2% · 60
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.1% · 21
Gender
Gender distribution for Blain
Out of the 2,295 babies given the name Blain since 1880, 99.3% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Blain as a male name
- Ranked #10,008 in 2024
- 7 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (58 births)
Blain as a female name
- Ranked #17,187 in 2011
- 5 female births in 2011
- Peak: 2006 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blain leans strongly male. 1,762 people counted with this name were male (94.6%), compared with 100 female bearers (5.4%).
Popularity
Blain: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Blain from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 13 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 384 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Blain by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Blain during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Blains live
The SSA's state-level files cover 9 states and territories. Texas, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Blain, while Louisiana, Michigan, Indiana recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 25 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Blain
The name Blain has its origins in the Old French language and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is believed to have derived from the Germanic word "blund," meaning "blond" or "fair-haired." This suggests that the name was initially used to describe someone with light-colored hair.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Blain can be found in the 12th-century epic poem "The Song of Roland," where it appears as a character's name. This French literary work is one of the oldest surviving examples of the Chansons de geste, a medieval narrative style that recounts the deeds of heroic figures.
In the 13th century, there are records of a Blain de Saint-Maur, who was a French nobleman and landowner. He is mentioned in various historical documents from that period, indicating the popularity of the name among the aristocracy.
During the Middle Ages, the name Blain was also associated with religious figures. One notable example is Blain, a 7th-century Frankish abbot and saint, who is venerated in parts of France and Belgium. His life and works were chronicled in hagiographies, contributing to the spread of the name among the faithful.
Throughout history, there have been several prominent individuals who bore the name Blain. One of the earliest was Blain de Brialmontiers (c. 1130-1200), a French knight who fought in the Third Crusade alongside Richard the Lionheart. Another notable figure was Blain de Vaux (c. 1175-1234), a French philosopher and theologian who made significant contributions to the Scholastic movement.
In the 16th century, Blain Pichon (1512-1580) was a French diplomat and writer who served as a secretary to King Henri II. A century later, Blain de Saint-Aubin (1617-1678) was a French clergyman and historian who wrote extensively about the religious orders of his time.
Moving into the 18th century, Blain François de Garsault (1721-1778) was a French military officer and author who published several influential works on horsemanship and equine management.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who carried the name Blain, reflecting its enduring presence across various cultures and eras.
People
Blain + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Blain as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Blain: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Blain?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,917 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Blain going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 178,797 US residents.
Is Blain a common name?
We classify Blain as "Rare". It ranks above 93.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,295 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Blain most popular?
The single biggest year for Blain was 2003, when 58 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Blain is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Blain in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,868 people with the name Blain, or 0.62 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,916 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Blain in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Blain?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blain leans strongly male. 1,762 people counted with this name were male (94.6%), compared with 100 female bearers (5.4%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Blain?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blain is White at 84.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.4%) and Hispanic (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Blain most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Blain in the 2020 Census, accounting for 84.4% (1,577 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Blain in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Blain a male name?
Yes, 99.3% of people registered as Blain in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Blain still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Blain in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Blain can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Blain?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.