Skip to content
Name Lineage

    The surname Bligh

    An Irish patronymic surname, carried by 658 people in the United States.

    1 syllable Soundex B420

    Bligh: #34,427 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Bligh #34,427, 658 people Bligh: #34,427 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#100Jimenez Bligh #34,427, 658 people
    Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Bligh is more common than 78.8% of them.

    Origin

    Irish origin

    * As an Irish and Manx surname, from Ó Blighe (“descendant of Blighe”), probably Gaelicized from Old Norse Blígr, from blígja (“to gaze, stare”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyg-, from *bʰel- (“to shine”). * As a Cornish surname, from bleydh (“wolf”). Compare Blethen. * As an English surname of Norman origin, variant of Blythe.

    Bligh is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

    One of 880 Irish surnames on this site.

    Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

    How common it is

    2010 US Census

    There were 658 people named Bligh in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 469,218 Americans. That is down 2.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 672.

    #34,427
    rank among US surnames
    658
    people in 2010
    0.2
    per 100,000 Americans
    -2.1%
    change since 2000 (was #32,302)

    Who is named Bligh

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

    96% of people named Bligh identified as white (not Hispanic), 1.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race) and 1.1% as Black (not Hispanic).

    • White (not Hispanic) 96%
    • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 1.8%
    • Black (not Hispanic) 1.1%
    • Two or more races 0.9%
    The Census suppresses very small shares to protect privacy; Asian & Pacific Islander, Native American are not shown.

    Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

    Famous Blighs

    2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

    • Anna Bligh
      Australian politician, born 1960
    • Thomas Bligh
      British Army general, 1685–1775

    Notable Blighs come mostly from Australia (1) and the Kingdom of Great Britain (1).

    Spellings and sound-alikes

    Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

    Variant spellings

    • Blee

    Surnames that sound like Bligh

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

    Other Irish surnames

    All 880 Irish surnames

    Questions

    Where does the surname Bligh come from?
    * As an Irish and Manx surname, from Ó Blighe (“descendant of Blighe”), probably Gaelicized from Old Norse Blígr, from blígja (“to gaze, stare”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleyg-, from *bʰel- (“to shine”). * As a Cornish surname, from bleydh (“wolf”). Compare Blethen. * As an English surname of…
    How common is the surname Bligh?
    658 people in the United States had the surname Bligh in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 469,218 Americans. It ranked 34,427th of 162,253 surnames.
    What ethnicity is the surname Bligh?
    In the 2010 Census, 96% of people named Bligh identified as white (not Hispanic), and 1.8% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).
    Who is the most famous person named Bligh?
    Anna Bligh, Australian politician, followed by Thomas Bligh.
    Where is the surname Bligh most common?
    Wikidata records people named Bligh in Australia and the Kingdom of Great Britain.
    What type of surname is Bligh?
    Bligh is a patronymic surname, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.
    Is the surname Bligh getting more or less common?
    Less common. 672 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 658 in 2010, down 2.1%.
    What are other spellings of Bligh?
    Blee.