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

Bledsoe, 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 Bledsoe surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Bledsoe in America

Bledsoe is the 1948th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Bledsoe surname appeared 18,510 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 people would have the surname Bledsoe.

We can also compare 2010 data for Bledsoe 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.

The history of the last name Bledsoe

The surname Bledsoe is of English origin, derived from a place name meaning 'Blead's hill' or 'Blead's slope' in Old English. The name is thought to have originated in the county of Staffordshire, England, during the Anglo-Saxon period, around the 5th to 11th centuries.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bledsoe appears in the Domesday Book of 1086, a survey commissioned by William the Conqueror. The entry mentions a landowner named Blaedsuuine, which is believed to be an early variant spelling of the surname.

In the 13th century, records show the surname spelled as Bledshowe and Bladeshaw, which were likely place names referring to settlements in Staffordshire. During this time, the Bledsoe family was known to have holdings in the villages of Bloxwich and Essington.

Sir William Bledsoe (c. 1390-1457) was a prominent figure in the Wars of the Roses, serving as a military commander under the House of Lancaster. He was knighted for his valor in the Battle of Towton in 1461.

Another notable figure was John Bledsoe (1580-1642), a merchant and alderman in the city of London. He was a member of the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers and served as Sheriff of London in 1630.

In the 17th century, several members of the Bledsoe family were among the early settlers in the British colonies of North America. Abraham Bledsoe (1619-1687) was one of the first to arrive in Virginia, establishing a plantation in what is now Stafford County.

Isaac Bledsoe (1735-1793) was an American Revolutionary War soldier and frontiersman. He was one of the founders of Bledsoe's Station, an early settlement in what is now Sumner County, Tennessee.

Jesse Bledsoe (1776-1857) was a prominent lawyer and politician from Kentucky. He served as the Secretary of State for Kentucky and as a United States Senator from 1813 to 1819.

The Bledsoe name has been associated with various place names throughout history, including Bledsoe County in Tennessee, named after the pioneer Isaac Bledsoe, and the town of Bledsoe, Texas, named after Jesse Bledsoe.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Bledsoe

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

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 Bledsoe was:

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 Bledsoe has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

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 Bledsoe was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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