Blough last name popularity, history, and meaning

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

Meaning of Blough

A habitational surname derived from a place name meaning "flowering meadow" in Middle High German.

Blough, 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 Blough surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Blough in America

Blough is the 10631st most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Blough surname appeared 3,012 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 Blough.

We can also compare 2010 data for Blough 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 10631 10114 4.98%
Count 3,012 2,933 2.66%
Proportion per 100k 1.02 1.09 -6.64%

The history of the last name Blough

The surname Blough is believed to have originated in Germany, where it was likely derived from the Old German word "bloch," meaning "block" or "log." This suggests that the name may have been initially assigned to someone who worked with wood, such as a lumberjack or a woodcutter.

The earliest recorded instances of the name date back to the 16th century in various regions of Germany, with variations in spelling such as Bloch, Blochius, and Blocher. It's worth noting that the name may have also been influenced by the German word "blau," meaning "blue," potentially indicating a connection to a place name or a physical characteristic.

One of the earliest known references to the name Blough can be found in the records of the town of Nuremberg, where a certain Johannes Bloch is mentioned in a document dated 1542. Another notable early bearer of the name was Hans Blocher, a merchant from Augsburg who lived in the late 16th century.

As the name spread across Europe, it eventually made its way to other countries, including Switzerland and the Netherlands. In the 17th century, several Blough families immigrated to the American colonies, particularly in Pennsylvania, where they settled in areas with significant German populations.

Among the notable individuals with the surname Blough throughout history are:

  1. Johannes Bloch (c. 1520 - c. 1590), a German theologian and author from Nuremberg.
  2. Christoph Blough (1654 - 1718), a Swiss painter known for his landscapes and religious works.
  3. Samuel Blough (1724 - 1802), an early American settler in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and a member of the Pennsylvania Militia during the American Revolutionary War.
  4. Anna Blough (1786 - 1859), a pioneering educator and founder of one of the first schools for girls in Ohio.
  5. Heinrich Blough (1819 - 1892), a German-American inventor and industrialist who patented several innovations in the field of textile machinery.

While the surname Blough may not have achieved widespread fame, it has a rich history rooted in the Germanic regions of Europe, with its bearers contributing to various fields throughout the centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Blough

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

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 Blough was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 95.72% 2,883
Non-Hispanic Black Only 0.46% 14
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only 0.63% 19
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.20% 6
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 1.03% 31
Hispanic Origin 1.96% 59

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

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 95.72% 97.27% -1.61%
Black 0.46% 0.44% 4.44%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.63% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native 0.20% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 1.03% 1.02% 0.98%
Hispanic 1.96% 0.82% 82.01%

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

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Blough, 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!

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

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

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

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