Blakely
Anglicized form of an Irish surname derived from a place name meaning "bright meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 20,152 living Americans carry the first name Blakely. It sits at #158 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. It is a predominantly female name (94.0% of registrations). The average person named Blakely today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Blakely births was 2024 (1,895 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Blakely. 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 Blakely with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Blakely started out as a boys' name but over the decades crossed over and is now given to girls far more often.
- • Blakely is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 10 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
20K
~ 1 in 17,008 Americans
Peak year
2024
1,895 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#158
Tracked since 1920
Census
Blakely in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 10,125 people with the first name Blakely, which placed it at #2,448 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
#2,448
National first-name rank
People counted
10K
10,125 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Blakely
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blakely is White at 88.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Blakely 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 Blakely at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.6% · 8,971
- Two or more races4.5% · 460
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 408
- Black or African American1.6% · 160
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 98
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.3% · 28
Gender
Gender distribution for Blakely
Blakely leans heavily female at 94.0% of total registrations, but 1,226 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Blakely as a male name
- Ranked #6,491 in 2024
- 13 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1990 (52 births)
Blakely as a female name
- Ranked #158 in 2024
- 1,882 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (1,882 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blakely leans strongly female. 9,295 people counted with this name were female (91.8%), compared with 832 male bearers (8.2%).
Popularity
Blakely: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Blakely from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 9,101 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Blakely 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 Blakely during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Blakelys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 48 states and territories. Texas, Georgia, Alabama recorded the most babies named Blakely, while Vermont, Maine, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 376 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Blakely
The name Blakely is an English surname that has been used as a given name in more recent times. The name is derived from the Old English words "blæc" meaning "black" and "leah" meaning "meadow" or "clearing". It is believed to have originated as a place name referring to a dark or shaded meadow.
While the exact origins of the name are uncertain, it is thought to have first appeared as a surname in the 12th or 13th century in various regions of England. The earliest recorded use of Blakely as a given name dates back to the late 19th century, possibly influenced by its use as a surname.
In terms of historical references, the name Blakely does not appear to have any significant mentions in ancient texts, religious scriptures, or historical records from earlier eras. Its usage as a given name is relatively modern.
Some notable individuals with the first name Blakely throughout history include:
1. Blakely Holshouser (1912-2006), an American politician who served as the 69th Governor of North Carolina from 1977 to 1981.
2. Blakely Carpenter (1941-2005), an American actress best known for her role in the film "The Fog" (1980).
3. Blakely Skoglund (born 1965), an American painter and sculptor known for her large-scale installations.
4. Blakely Phillips (born 1994), an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder.
5. Blakely Thornton (1918-2007), an American air force pilot who served in World War II and received the Distinguished Flying Cross.
While the name Blakely may not have a long and storied history as a given name, its origins as an English surname and its relatively modern usage as a first name provide an interesting linguistic and cultural context.
People
Blakely + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Blakely 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
Blakely: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Blakely?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 20,152 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Blakely 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 17,008 US residents.
Is Blakely a common name?
We classify Blakely as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 20,376 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Blakely most popular?
The single biggest year for Blakely was 2024, when 1,895 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Blakely is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Blakely in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 10,125 people with the name Blakely, or 3.35 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,448 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 Blakely 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 Blakely?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blakely leans strongly female. 9,295 people counted with this name were female (91.8%), compared with 832 male bearers (8.2%). 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 Blakely?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blakely is White at 88.6%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (4.0%). 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 Blakely most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Blakely in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.6% (8,971 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 Blakely in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Blakely a female name?
Yes, 94.0% of people registered as Blakely in the SSA data are female. 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 Blakely still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Blakely 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 Blakely 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 have Blakely as a first name?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.