Blickenstaff last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Blickenstaff

Derived from German, a staff or staff-like weapon.

Blickenstaff, 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 Blickenstaff surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Blickenstaff in America

Blickenstaff is the 28679th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Blickenstaff surname appeared 831 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Blickenstaff.

We can also compare 2010 data for Blickenstaff 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 28679 27618 3.77%
Count 831 821 1.21%
Proportion per 100k 0.28 0.30 -6.90%

The history of the last name Blickenstaff

The surname "BLICKENSTAFF" is of English origin, originating in the 13th century. It is a locational name derived from a place called "Blickling" in Norfolk, England. The earliest recorded spelling of the name was "Blickling" in the Pipe Rolls of Norfolk in 1199.

The name "Blickling" is thought to come from the Old English words "blæc" meaning "bleak" and "inga" meaning "people of", referring to the people who lived in the bleak or exposed area. The suffix "-staff" was later added to the name, which is a common English habitational suffix meaning "dweller at".

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname "BLICKENSTAFF" dates back to 1327 in the Subsidy Rolls of Norfolk, where one William de Blyklyng was listed. The name also appears in the Hundred Rolls of Norfolk in 1275 as "Bliclingge".

In the Domesday Book of 1086, the place name "Blicling" is mentioned as belonging to the Bishop of Thetford. This suggests that the name and its variations had been in use for some time before the first recorded instances.

Some notable historical figures with the surname "BLICKENSTAFF" include:

  1. Sir Humphrey Blickenstaff (1565-1635), an English politician and Member of Parliament for Norfolk.
  2. John Blickenstaff (1730-1802), an American pioneer and frontiersman who settled in Pennsylvania.
  3. William Blickenstaff (1778-1856), an American farmer and landowner in Ohio.
  4. Emily Blickenstaff (1837-1912), an American writer and poet from Kentucky.
  5. George Blickenstaff (1882-1964), an American architect and designer, known for his work in the Prairie School style.

These examples span several centuries and showcase the widespread use of the surname "BLICKENSTAFF" in various contexts, from politics and literature to exploration and architecture.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Blickenstaff

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

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 Blickenstaff was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 96.63% 803
Non-Hispanic Black Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% 0
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 0.72% 6
Hispanic Origin 1.81% 15

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 96.63% 96.83% -0.21%
Black (S)% 0.00% (S)%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.00% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 0.72% 1.46% -67.89%
Hispanic 1.81% 1.34% 29.84%

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

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

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"Blickenstaff last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 3, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/blickenstaff-surname-popularity/.

"Blickenstaff last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/blickenstaff-surname-popularity/. Accessed 3 July, 2025

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

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