Bleu
A given name derived from the French word for the color blue.
Name Census estimates that about 580 living Americans carry the first name Bleu. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 57.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Bleu today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bleu births was 2022 (100 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bleu. 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 Bleu with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
580
~ 1 in 590,956 Americans
Peak year
2022
100 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,099
Tracked since 1979
Census
Bleu in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 323 people with the first name Bleu, which placed it at #28,012 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
#28,012
National first-name rank
People counted
323
323 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
45.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bleu
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bleu is White at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Black (21.4%) and Hispanic (18.3%). 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 Bleu 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 Bleu at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White45.5% · 147
- Black or African American21.4% · 69
- Hispanic or Latino18.3% · 59
- Two or more races10.8% · 35
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.5% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 5
Gender
Gender distribution for Bleu
Bleu is one of the more evenly split names in the SSA data. Of the 585 total registrations, 339 (57.9%) were male and 246 (42.1%) were female.
Bleu as a male name
- Ranked #3,099 in 2024
- 39 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (61 births)
Bleu as a female name
- Ranked #6,410 in 2024
- 18 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2022 (39 births)
2020 Census snapshot
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bleu on both sides of the split. Of the 321 people counted with this name, 185 were male (57.6%) and 136 were female (42.4%).
Popularity
Bleu: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bleu from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 374 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bleu 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 Bleu during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bleus live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Texas, California, Georgia recorded the most babies named Bleu, while Georgia, California, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 29 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bleu
The given name Bleu finds its origins in the French language, deriving from the word "bleu" which means "blue" in English. This name emerged during the Middle Ages in France, where it was initially used as a nickname or descriptive term for someone with blue eyes or someone who frequently wore blue clothing.
The earliest recorded use of Bleu as a given name dates back to the 13th century in various French historical records and documents. It was initially more common among the lower classes and peasantry, as it was a descriptive nickname rather than a traditional name from religious or noble origins.
One of the earliest notable individuals to bear the name Bleu was Bleu de Souvigny, a French knight who fought in the Hundred Years' War during the 14th century. Another early figure was Bleu de Montauban, a 15th-century French poet and troubadour known for his contributions to the development of courtly love poetry.
In the 16th century, Bleu Baudoin, a French explorer and navigator, gained recognition for his expeditions and voyages to the Americas and the Caribbean. His travels and accounts of the new lands helped expand European knowledge of the Western Hemisphere during the Age of Exploration.
During the 17th century, Bleu de Gennes, a French mathematician and physicist, made significant contributions to the field of fluid mechanics and the study of surface tension phenomena. His work laid the foundation for modern understanding of capillary action and wetting phenomena.
In the 19th century, Bleu d'Aurevilly, a French novelist and literary critic, gained prominence for his avant-garde writings and his influential criticism of contemporary French literature. His works, such as "Les Diaboliques" and "L'Ensorcelée," explored themes of passion, violence, and the supernatural.
Throughout history, the name Bleu has remained a relatively uncommon given name, primarily used in French-speaking regions. While it has not achieved widespread popularity, it has maintained a distinct cultural and linguistic connection to its French origins and the color blue.
People
Bleu + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bleu 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
Bleu: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bleu?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 580 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bleu 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 590,956 US residents.
Is Bleu a common name?
We classify Bleu as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 585 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bleu most popular?
The single biggest year for Bleu was 2022, when 100 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bleu is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bleu in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 323 people with the name Bleu, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,012 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 Bleu 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 Bleu?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Bleu on both sides of the split. Of the 321 people counted with this name, 185 were male (57.6%) and 136 were female (42.4%). 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 Bleu?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bleu is White at 45.5%. The next largest groups are Black (21.4%) and Hispanic (18.3%). 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 Bleu most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bleu in the 2020 Census, accounting for 45.5% (147 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 Bleu in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bleu a male name?
Yes, 57.9% of people registered as Bleu in the SSA data are male. 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 Bleu still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bleu 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 Bleu 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 common is the name Bleu?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.