Blake - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ 1 syll. bla-ke, bl-ake ] The boy name Blake is pronounced as BLEYK ^KEY. Blake is an English name of Old English origin. Blake has the meaning dark; fair. Derived from the elements 'blaec' meaning black ; 'blac' meaning pale, white, shining, bleak. The name originated as a nickname for someone of very dark, or conversely very light, hair or skin. The confusion arises due to the Old English 'blaec' and 'blac' being differentiated mainly by the different pronunciation of the 'a' as in 'car' or 'cat'. Both elements have been used for the nickname, which gave rise to the subsequent surname and first name. Among English speakers, the first name has been in use since the 19th century; it has sometimes been bestowed in tribute to the English admiral Robert Blake (1599-1657) or the British poet William Blake (1757-1827).

Blake is popular as a baby name for boys. The name has been rising in popularity since the 1940s. At the modest peak of its usage in 2002, 0.260% of baby boys were given the name Blake. Its ranking then was #76. In 2007, its usage was 0.238% and its ranking #88, and it was the most commonly used out of all boy names in its group. Blake has predominantly been a boy name, though in the past century it has also been used for girls. In 1997, boys named Blake outnumbered girls by 22 times.

Baby names that sound like Blake include the English and French Blaise, the English Blaize, the Spanish Blas, the English Blase, the English Blayze, the Slavic Blaz, the English Blaze, the Hungarian Balázs, the Proven�al Blasi, and the Czech and Polish Blazej.

^KEY: Pronunciation for Blake: B as in "be (B.IY)" ; L as in "lee (L.IY)" ; EY as in "ate (EY.T)" ; K as in "key (K.IY)"

A famous person named Blake is Filmmaker, Blake Edwards, born William Blake Crump, July 26, 1922, Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Popularity Trend
for Blake
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Blake
in 2007