Blythe
Cheerful, pleasant, and joyful.
Name Census estimates that about 4,863 living Americans carry the first name Blythe. It is a predominantly female name (95.1% of registrations). The average person named Blythe today is around 28 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Blythe births was 2013 (181 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Blythe. 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 Blythe with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Blythe is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 263 boys registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
4.9K
~ 1 in 70,482 Americans
Peak year
2013
181 babies that year
Average age
28
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,862
Tracked since 1897
Census
Blythe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 4,447 people with the first name Blythe, which placed it at #4,274 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
#4,274
National first-name rank
People counted
4.4K
4,447 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
81.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Blythe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blythe is White at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Black (5.3%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Blythe 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 Blythe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White81.8% · 3,636
- Black or African American5.3% · 234
- Two or more races5.1% · 225
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 219
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 91
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 42
Gender
Gender distribution for Blythe
Blythe leans heavily female at 95.1% of total registrations, but 263 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Blythe as a male name
- Ranked #11,089 in 2024
- 6 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2000 (11 births)
Blythe as a female name
- Ranked #1,862 in 2024
- 107 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2013 (174 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blythe leans strongly female. 4,183 people counted with this name were female (94.2%), compared with 258 male bearers (5.8%).
Popularity
Blythe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Blythe from the 1890s through to the 2020s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,443 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Blythe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Blythe 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 Blythe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Blythes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 26 states and territories. California, Texas, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Blythe, while Wisconsin, Utah, Minnesota recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 72 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Blythe
The name Blythe is of Old English origin, derived from the Middle English word "blithe," meaning cheerful or happy. It is believed to have originated around the 12th century in England.
The name has its roots in the Old English word "blīthe," which was formed from the Proto-Germanic word "blīthiz," meaning gentle, kind, or friendly. The word itself is thought to be related to the Proto-Indo-European root "bhlei-," meaning to shine or be radiant.
Blythe is often associated with the idea of being carefree, joyful, and lighthearted. It was a popular name in medieval England, particularly among the upper classes, and was sometimes used as a nickname for people with a cheerful and pleasant demeanor.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Blythe can be found in the 14th-century poem "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight," where a character named Blythe is mentioned. In the 16th century, Blythe also appears in the works of the English playwright William Shakespeare, particularly in his play "The Taming of the Shrew."
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Blythe. One of the earliest was Blythe Hampden (1472-1508), an English Member of Parliament and courtier during the reign of King Henry VII. Another was Blythe Patridge (1554-1612), an English poet and writer known for her religious verses.
In the 19th century, Blythe Dalrymple (1865-1925) was a British diplomat and civil servant who served as the Governor of Jamaica from 1919 to 1925. Blythe Danner (born in 1943) is an American actress known for her roles in films such as "Meet the Parents" and "The Last Kiss."
More recently, Blythe Barrymore (born in 1987) is an American artist and writer, and the daughter of actress Blythe Danner and producer Bruce Paltrow.
While the name Blythe has been used for both males and females throughout history, it has become more commonly associated with girls in recent times. However, its origins and historical usage reflect its connection to a cheerful and happy disposition, making it a name with a positive and uplifting connotation.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Blythe
People
Blythe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Blythe 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
Blythe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Blythe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,863 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Blythe 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 70,482 US residents.
Is Blythe a common name?
We classify Blythe as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,339 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Blythe most popular?
The single biggest year for Blythe was 2013, when 181 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Blythe is about 28 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Blythe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 4,447 people with the name Blythe, or 1.47 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #4,274 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 Blythe 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 Blythe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blythe leans strongly female. 4,183 people counted with this name were female (94.2%), compared with 258 male bearers (5.8%). 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 Blythe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blythe is White at 81.8%. The next largest groups are Black (5.3%) and Two or More Races (5.1%). 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 Blythe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Blythe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 81.8% (3,636 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 Blythe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Blythe a female name?
Yes, 95.1% of people registered as Blythe 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 Blythe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Blythe 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 Blythe 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 Blythe?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.