Blen
A feminine name meaning "beautiful" or "lovely" in Albanian.
Name Census estimates that about 271 living Americans carry the first name Blen. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Blen today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Blen births was 2015 (27 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Blen. 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 Blen with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
271
~ 1 in 1,264,776 Americans
Peak year
2015
27 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,243
Tracked since 2004
Census
Blen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 497 people with the first name Blen, which placed it at #20,692 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
#20,692
National first-name rank
People counted
497
497 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
87.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Blen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blen is Black at 87.5%. The next largest groups are White (6.0%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Blen 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 Blen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American87.5% · 435
- White6.0% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino3.6% · 18
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.4% · 12
- Two or more races0.4% · 2
Popularity
Blen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Blen from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 177 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Blen 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 Blen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Blens live
Origin
Meaning and history of Blen
The given name Blen is believed to have originated from the ancient Sumerian language, which was spoken in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 3500 BC to 2000 BC. The name is derived from the Sumerian word "blen," which means "to shine" or "to radiate." It is possible that the name was initially given to individuals who were perceived as having a bright or radiant personality.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Blen can be found in the Sumerian King List, an ancient manuscript that chronicles the rulers of various Sumerian city-states. The list mentions a king named Blen-Suen, who ruled over the city of Larsa in the 21st century BC. However, it is unclear whether this was a personal name or a title.
In ancient Sumerian mythology, there is a reference to a minor deity named Blen-Gal, who was associated with the protection of travelers and merchants. This deity was often invoked by those embarking on long journeys, seeking safe passage and prosperity in their ventures.
During the Neo-Babylonian period (626 BC to 539 BC), the name Blen appears to have gained popularity among the ruling class. One notable figure from this era was Blen-Apla-Iddina, a high-ranking official who served as the governor of the Babylonian province of Uruk around 550 BC.
In the field of ancient astronomy, there is a record of a Babylonian astrologer named Blen-Shar-Ibni, who lived during the reign of King Nebuchadnezzar II (604 BC to 562 BC). He is credited with making significant contributions to the study of celestial bodies and their movements.
The name Blen also appears in several ancient Sumerian and Akkadian cuneiform tablets, which were used for recordkeeping and literary purposes. One notable example is the Blen Tablet, a clay tablet dating back to around 2300 BC, which contains a list of personal names and their meanings.
Throughout history, there have been several individuals who bore the name Blen, although their fame or significance may have been limited to specific regions or time periods. Some notable examples include Blen-Kash, a renowned sculptor from the city of Ur during the Neo-Sumerian period (2112 BC to 2004 BC), and Blen-Shamash, a high priest of the god Shamash in the city of Sippar during the Old Babylonian period (1894 BC to 1595 BC).
People
Blen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Blen 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
Blen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Blen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 271 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Blen 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 1,264,776 US residents.
Is Blen a common name?
We classify Blen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 78.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 273 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Blen most popular?
The single biggest year for Blen was 2015, when 27 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Blen is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Blen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 497 people with the name Blen, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,692 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 Blen 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 Blen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blen leans strongly female. 474 people counted with this name were female (95.2%), compared with 24 male bearers (4.8%). 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 Blen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blen is Black at 87.5%. The next largest groups are White (6.0%) and Hispanic (3.6%). 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 Blen most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Blen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.5% (435 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 Blen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Blen a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Blen 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 Blen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Blen 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 Blen 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 Blen?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people have the name Blen at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.