Bliss
A state of supreme happiness or spiritual joy.
Name Census estimates that about 1,709 living Americans carry the first name Bliss. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 88.3% of registrations being female. The average person named Bliss today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bliss births was 2023 (106 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bliss. 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 Bliss with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.7K
~ 1 in 200,558 Americans
Peak year
2023
106 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,192
Tracked since 1887
Census
Bliss in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,510 people with the first name Bliss, which placed it at #9,276 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
#9,276
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,510 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
61.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bliss
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bliss is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.1%). 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 Bliss 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 Bliss at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White61.6% · 930
- Black or African American16.3% · 246
- Asian and Pacific Islander8.1% · 122
- Hispanic or Latino7.9% · 119
- Two or more races5.4% · 82
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 11
Gender
Gender distribution for Bliss
Bliss leans heavily female at 88.3% of total registrations, but 225 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bliss as a male name
- Ranked #8,372 in 2024
- 9 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1914 (13 births)
Bliss as a female name
- Ranked #2,192 in 2024
- 86 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (94 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bliss leans strongly female. 1,327 people counted with this name were female (87.7%), compared with 186 male bearers (12.3%).
Popularity
Bliss: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bliss from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 503 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Bliss remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bliss 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 Bliss during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bliss' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 12 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Bliss, while Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 37 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bliss
The name Bliss is an English name derived from the Old French word "blis", which in turn comes from the Old English word "blisse", meaning joy or gladness. This name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, when it was often used as a descriptive name or nickname for someone who was happy or joyful.
Bliss has its roots in the ancient Indo-European root "gal", which means to be glad or to rejoice. This root can be found in various other languages, such as the German word "Glück" (meaning luck or happiness) and the Greek word "gelos" (meaning laughter).
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Bliss can be found in the works of the 14th-century English poet Geoffrey Chaucer. In his famous work, "The Canterbury Tales", he mentions a character named "Blysse" who represents the personification of joy and happiness.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Bliss. One of the earliest was Bliss Carman (1861-1929), a Canadian poet and essayist who was known for his nature poetry and his contributions to the Confederation Poets literary movement.
Another notable figure was Bliss Perry (1860-1954), an American scholar and literary critic who served as the editor of the Atlantic Monthly magazine from 1899 to 1909. He also taught English literature at Harvard University and wrote several books on literary criticism.
In the field of architecture, Bliss Edward Carman (1868-1943) was a renowned American architect who designed several notable buildings in New York City, including the Central Synagogue and the National Park Seminary.
Bliss Sands (1863-1949) was an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York from 1915 to 1919.
Lastly, Bliss Llewellyn (1916-1986) was a Welsh writer and artist who published several novels and collections of short stories, as well as being a respected painter and printmaker.
While the name Bliss may not be as common today as it once was, its origins and historical significance make it a unique and meaningful name that carries connotations of joy, happiness, and contentment.
People
Bliss + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bliss 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
Bliss: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bliss?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,709 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bliss 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 200,558 US residents.
Is Bliss a common name?
We classify Bliss as "Rare". It ranks above 93% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,930 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bliss most popular?
The single biggest year for Bliss was 2023, when 106 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bliss is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bliss in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,510 people with the name Bliss, or 0.50 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,276 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 Bliss 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 Bliss?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bliss leans strongly female. 1,327 people counted with this name were female (87.7%), compared with 186 male bearers (12.3%). 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 Bliss?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bliss is White at 61.6%. The next largest groups are Black (16.3%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (8.1%). 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 Bliss most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bliss in the 2020 Census, accounting for 61.6% (930 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 Bliss in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bliss a female name?
Yes, 88.3% of people registered as Bliss 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 Bliss still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bliss 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 Bliss 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 Americans are named Bliss?
See how many Americans are named Bliss on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.