How common is the surname Blake?

73,797 people in the United States had the surname Blake in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 4,184 Americans. It ranked 447th of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Blake?

James Blake, American tennis player, followed by Robert Blake.

Where is the surname Blake most common?

Wikidata records people named Blake in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 3 other countries.

How do you pronounce Blake?

Blake is /bleɪk/, one syllable.

Is the surname Blake getting more or less common?

More common. 69,279 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 73,797 in 2010, up 6.5%.

Is Blake also a first name?

Yes. Blake is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.

The surname Blake

An English nickname surname, carried by 73,797 people in the United States.

Pronounced /bleɪk/ 1 syllable Soundex B420 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Blake is more common than 99.7% of them.

Origin

English origin

A surname derived from either Old English blæc (“black”) or from Old English blāc (“pale, fair, shining, white”), or as an anglicisation of Irish Ó Bláthmaic.

Blake is a nickname surname: from a description or nickname of an ancestor.

One of 1,446 English surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 73,797 people named Blake in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 4,184 Americans. That is up 6.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 69,279.

#447

rank among US surnames

73,797

people in 2010

per 100,000 Americans

+6.5%

change since 2000 (was #425)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#438	Harmon	74,737	4,131
#439	McGee	74,542	4,142
#440	Gross	74,503	4,144
#441	Doyle	74,458	4,147
#442	Garner	74,324	4,154
#443	Newton	74,092	4,167
#444	Burgess	73,931	4,176

Who is named Blake

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

71% of people named Blake identified as white (not Hispanic), 23% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.7% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 71%
Black (not Hispanic) 23%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.7%
Two or more races 2.1%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.8%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Blakes

44 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

James Blake
American tennis player, born 1979
Robert Blake
American actor (1933–2023)
Geoffrey Blake
American actor, born 1962
Arthur Blake
American middle distance runner (1872–1944)
Amanda Blake
American actress (1929–1989)
Peter Blake
British artist (1932-)
Michael Blake
American writer (1945-2015)
Steve Blake
American basketball player, born 1980
Eubie Blake
American jazz pianist (1887–1983)
Blind Blake
American blues singer and guitarist (1896–1934)
Yvonne Blake
British-born Spanish costume designer (1940-2018)
Wesley Blake
American professional wrestler, born 1987

Notable Blakes come mostly from the United States (35), the United Kingdom (3) and Australia (3).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Blayke
Blaeke

Surnames that sound like Blake

Blake has the Soundex code B420, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B420.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Blake come from?: A surname derived from either Old English blæc (“black”) or from Old English blāc (“pale, fair, shining, white”), or as an anglicisation of Irish Ó Bláthmaic.
How common is the surname Blake?: 73,797 people in the United States had the surname Blake in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 4,184 Americans. It ranked 447th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Blake?: In the 2010 Census, 71% of people named Blake identified as white (not Hispanic), and 23% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Blake?: James Blake, American tennis player, followed by Robert Blake.
Where is the surname Blake most common?: Wikidata records people named Blake in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia and 3 other countries.
How do you pronounce Blake?: Blake is /bleɪk/, one syllable.
What type of surname is Blake?: Blake is a nickname surname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor.
Is the surname Blake getting more or less common?: More common. 69,279 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 73,797 in 2010, up 6.5%.
What are other spellings of Blake?: Blayke and Blaeke.
Is Blake also a first name?: Yes. Blake is used as a first name as well as a surname; its first-name page has the meaning and how many babies were given it.