Blanchard
A French masculine name derived from the word "blanc," meaning white or fair.
Name Census estimates that about 86 living Americans carry the first name Blanchard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Blanchard today is around 80 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Blanchard births was 1917 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Blanchard. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Blanchard is about 80 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Blanchards were born before 1956.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Blanchard. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
86
~ 1 in 3,985,516 Americans
Peak year
1917
18 babies that year
Average age
80
years old
1964 SSA rank
#3,642
Tracked since 1883
Census
Blanchard in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 230 people with the first name Blanchard, which placed it at #35,134 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
#35,134
National first-name rank
People counted
230
230 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
52.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Blanchard
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blanchard is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (42.6%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Blanchard 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 Blanchard at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White52.6% · 121
- Black or African American42.6% · 98
- Hispanic or Latino2.6% · 6
- Two or more races1.3% · 3
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.4% · 1
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.4% · 1
Popularity
Blanchard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Blanchard from the 1880s through to the 1960s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 118 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Blanchard 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 Blanchard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Blanchards live
Origin
Meaning and history of Blanchard
The name Blanchard has its origins in the Old French language, tracing back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the words "blanc" meaning white and "ard" denoting a hardy or brave person. The name was initially used as a descriptive term for someone with fair or white hair or complexion, and it later evolved into a surname and given name.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Blanchard can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive record of landowners in England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror. The name appears as a surname, indicating that it had already gained recognition as a family name by that time.
During the Middle Ages, the name Blanchard was associated with various historical figures, particularly in France and England. One notable bearer of the name was Geoffroy Blanchard, a French knight who participated in the Third Crusade (1189-1192) alongside King Richard I of England, also known as Richard the Lionheart.
In the 13th century, Blanchard de Lauriac was a renowned French troubadour and composer, known for his contributions to the development of courtly love poetry and music. His works were widely circulated and influential during his lifetime.
Another historical figure bearing the name Blanchard was Nicolas Blanchard, a French inventor and engineer who lived from 1753 to 1809. He is credited with designing and constructing the first successful parachute descent, which he demonstrated in Paris in 1783.
In the realm of literature, Blanchard appears as a character in the epic poem "The Faerie Queene" by Edmund Spenser, published in 1590. The character is portrayed as a brave and virtuous knight, reflecting the name's connotation of bravery and nobility.
Other notable individuals with the name Blanchard include Thomas Blanchard (1788-1864), an American inventor who pioneered the design of advanced machine tools, and Henri Blanchard (1891-1964), a French film director and screenwriter known for his contributions to the poetic realism movement in cinema.
The name Blanchard has endured over the centuries, maintaining its association with qualities such as fairness, bravery, and nobility. Its rich historical background and cultural significance have made it a popular choice for given names across various regions and time periods.
People
Blanchard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Blanchard 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
Blanchard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Blanchard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 86 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Blanchard 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 3,985,516 US residents.
Is Blanchard a common name?
We classify Blanchard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 413 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Blanchard most popular?
The single biggest year for Blanchard was 1917, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Blanchard is about 80 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Blanchard in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 230 people with the name Blanchard, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #35,134 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 Blanchard 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 Blanchard?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blanchard leans strongly male. 215 people counted with this name were male (92.7%), compared with 17 female bearers (7.3%). 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 Blanchard?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blanchard is White at 52.6%. The next largest groups are Black (42.6%) and Hispanic (2.6%). 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 Blanchard most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Blanchard in the 2020 Census, accounting for 52.6% (121 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 Blanchard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Blanchard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Blanchard 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 Blanchard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Blanchard 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 Blanchard 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 common is the name Blanchard?
You can see how many people have the name Blanchard on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.