Blanche
Of French origin meaning "white" or "fair".
Name Census estimates that about 7,397 living Americans carry the first name Blanche. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Blanche today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Blanche births was 1917 (2,842 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Blanche. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Blanche with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Blanche is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 223 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Blanche is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Blanches were born before 1959.
- • Compared to the 1910s, recent registration numbers for Blanche have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
7.4K
~ 1 in 46,337 Americans
Peak year
1917
2,842 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
1946 SSA rank
#3,573
Tracked since 1880
Census
Blanche in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 11,374 people with the first name Blanche, which placed it at #2,277 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#2,277
National first-name rank
People counted
11K
11,374 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Blanche
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blanche is White at 66.3%. The next largest groups are Black (22.6%) and Hispanic (5.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Blanche described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Blanche at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.3% · 7,537
- Black or African American22.6% · 2,567
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 630
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.3% · 261
- Two or more races2.2% · 245
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 134
Gender
Gender distribution for Blanche
Out of the 87,631 babies given the name Blanche since 1880, 99.7% were registered as female. The name sits firmly on the female side of the spectrum, with only a handful of male registrations across the entire dataset.
Blanche as a male name
- Ranked #3,573 in 1946
- 5 male births in 1946
- Peak: 1918 (12 births)
Blanche as a female name
- Ranked #11,242 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1917 (2,836 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blanche appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,370 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male.
Popularity
Blanche: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Blanche from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 22,034 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Blanche by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Blanche during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Blanches live
The SSA's state-level files cover 50 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the most babies named Blanche, while Nevada, Wyoming, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,103 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Blanche
The name Blanche originates from the French language, derived from the Old French word "blanche" which means "white" or "fair". This name has its roots in the Late Latin word "blanca", which also held the same meaning.
During the Middle Ages, the name Blanche became popular among the French nobility, especially in the 12th and 13th centuries. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the 12th-century French epic poem "The Song of Roland", where a character named Blanche is mentioned.
In the 13th century, Blanche of Castile (1188-1252), the Queen consort of France as the wife of King Louis VIII, played a significant role in French history. She served as regent for her son, Louis IX, during his minority and is remembered for her influential governance.
Another notable figure was Blanche of Navarre (1330-1398), who was the Queen consort of France as the wife of King Philip VI. She was known for her intelligence and political acumen, and played a crucial role in the Hundred Years' War against England.
In literature, one of the most famous characters with the name Blanche is Blanche DuBois from Tennessee Williams' renowned play "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1947). The character's fragility and struggles with mental illness have become iconic in American theater.
In the world of opera, Blanche de la Force is a character in the 19th-century French opera "Dialogues des Carmélites" by Francis Poulenc. The opera tells the story of the Martyrs of Compiègne during the French Revolution.
Another notable figure was Blanche Monnier (1849-1913), a French poet and writer who was part of the Parnassian movement and known for her works such as "Les Débuts" and "Les Trait d'Union".
While the name Blanche has its origins in France, it has been widely adopted and used in various cultures and languages over the centuries, often retaining its association with purity, innocence, and beauty.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Blanche
People
Blanche + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Blanche as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Blanche: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Blanche?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 7,397 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Blanche going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 46,337 US residents.
Is Blanche a common name?
We classify Blanche as "Rare". It ranks above 97.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 87,631 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Blanche most popular?
The single biggest year for Blanche was 1917, when 2,842 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Blanche is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Blanche in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 11,374 people with the name Blanche, or 3.77 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,277 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Blanche in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Blanche?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Blanche appears almost entirely female. Of the 11,370 people counted with this name, 99.8% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Blanche?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Blanche is White at 66.3%. The next largest groups are Black (22.6%) and Hispanic (5.5%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Blanche most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Blanche in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.3% (7,537 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Blanche in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Blanche a female name?
Yes, 99.7% of people registered as Blanche in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Blanche still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Blanche in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Blanche can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have the name Blanche?
See how many people have the name Blanche on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.