How common is the surname Bly?

4,823 people in the United States had the surname Bly in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 64,015 Americans. It ranked 6,955th of 162,253 surnames.

What ethnicity is the surname Bly?

In the 2010 Census, 83% of people named Bly identified as white (not Hispanic), and 11% as Black (not Hispanic).

Who is the most famous person named Bly?

Nellie Bly, American journalist, followed by Robert Bly.

Where is the surname Bly most common?

Wikidata records people named Bly in the United States.

Is the surname Bly getting more or less common?

More common. 4,705 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,823 in 2010, up 2.5%.

The surname Bly

An English surname, carried by 4,823 people in the United States.

1 syllable Soundex B400

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Bly is more common than 95.7% of them.

Origin

English origin

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

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 4,823 people named Bly in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 64,015 Americans. That is up 2.5% since 2000, when the Census counted 4,705.

#6,955

rank among US surnames

4,823

people in 2010

1.6

per 100,000 Americans

+2.5%

change since 2000 (was #6,631)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#6,949	Nay	4,826	63,975
#6,952	Hinrichs	4,825	63,989
#6,954	Summerlin	4,824	64,002
#6,955	Bly	4,823	64,015
#6,956	Waltman	4,822	64,029

Who is named Bly

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

83% of people named Bly identified as white (not Hispanic), 11% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as two or more races.

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

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Blys

2 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Nellie Bly
American journalist, 1864–1922
Robert Bly
American poet, author, and activist (1926–2021)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Bly

Bly has the Soundex code B400, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B400.

Other English surnames

All 1,446 English surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Bly come from?: English surname, from Old English bliþe (“friendly, gentle”).
How common is the surname Bly?: 4,823 people in the United States had the surname Bly in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 64,015 Americans. It ranked 6,955th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Bly?: In the 2010 Census, 83% of people named Bly identified as white (not Hispanic), and 11% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Bly?: Nellie Bly, American journalist, followed by Robert Bly.
Where is the surname Bly most common?: Wikidata records people named Bly in the United States.
Is the surname Bly getting more or less common?: More common. 4,705 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 4,823 in 2010, up 2.5%.