Blakeslee last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Blakeslee is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Blakeslee.

Meaning of Blakeslee

A habitational surname derived from a place name meaning "dark wood" or "black clearing" in Old English.

Blakeslee, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Blakeslee surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Blakeslee in America

Blakeslee is the 9165th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Blakeslee surname appeared 3,561 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Blakeslee.

We can also compare 2010 data for Blakeslee to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 9165 9348 -1.98%
Count 3,561 3,199 10.71%
Proportion per 100k 1.21 1.19 1.67%

The history of the last name Blakeslee

The surname Blakeslee is of English origin and dates back to the 11th century. It is derived from the Old English words "blæc" meaning "black" and "leah" meaning "a clearing or meadow." The name likely referred to someone who lived near a dark-colored meadow or woodland area.

Blakeslee is a locational surname, meaning it was originally taken from the name of a specific place. In this case, it is believed to have originated from the village of Blacksley in Worcestershire, England. The earliest recorded spelling of this place name was Blakesleye in the Domesday Book of 1086.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the Blakeslee surname itself can be found in the Pipe Rolls of Staffordshire from the year 1177, where it was spelled as "Blakeslegh." Other early spellings include Blakesleye, Blakeslie, and Blakesly.

Notable individuals with the surname Blakeslee throughout history include:

  1. John Blakeslee (1572-1647), an early settler of Hartford, Connecticut, who arrived in America from England in the 1630s.
  2. Gideon Blakeslee (1627-1708), an American colonial soldier and landowner in Stratford, Connecticut.
  3. Solomon Blakeslee (1759-1839), a farmer and Revolutionary War soldier from Connecticut.
  4. Epher Whitaker Blakeslee (1805-1878), an American inventor and manufacturer of agricultural machinery.
  5. Walter Lines Blakeslee (1869-1933), an American botanist and professor at the Connecticut Agricultural College (now the University of Connecticut).

While the Blakeslee surname is predominantly found in the United States, with a concentration in New England due to the early colonial settlers, it also has a presence in other English-speaking countries like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, likely due to later emigration.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Blakeslee

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Blakeslee.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Blakeslee was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 94.80% 3,376
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.34% 12
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.59% 21
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.45% 16
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.43% 51
Hispanic Origin 2.39% 85

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Blakeslee has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 94.80% 96.34% -1.61%
Black 0.34% (S)% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.59% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.45% 0.56% -21.78%
Two or More Races 1.43% 1.16% 20.85%
Hispanic 2.39% 1.44% 49.61%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Blakeslee was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Blakeslee, please contact us.

Reference this page

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If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"Blakeslee last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/blakeslee-surname-popularity/.

"Blakeslee last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/blakeslee-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 November, 2024

Blakeslee last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/blakeslee-surname-popularity/.

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