# Bly (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/bly/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 4,823 |
| US rank (2010) | 6,955 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 64,015 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.5% (4,705 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

English surname, from Old English bliþe (“friendly, gentle”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Bly in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 83% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 11% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.9% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5% |
| Two or more races | 2.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Bly in the United States.

## People named Bly

- Nellie Bly, American journalist
- Robert Bly, American poet, author, and activist (1926–2021)

## Similar surnames

Bley, Blay, Bilyeu, Bailey, Bell, Ball, Beil, Boyle, Blue, Beal, Bello, Bail.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.