Blanche

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Girl · Germanic, through Old French

Blanche

Say it: BLAHNSH

Try it with your surname

Meaning

From Old French blanche 'white, fair'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Came to England with French royal connections in the 13th century.

Its wave through time

Fading since the 1880s

In the United States

87,599 babies given this name since 1880
At its height in 1889, about 1 in 184 girls
11 babies in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

English French American

The family of the name

Other spellings: Blanch, Blaunche

French	Blanche
Spanish	Blanca
Italian	Bianca
Portuguese	Branca

Famous bearers

Blanche of Lancaster, wife of John of Gaunt
Blanche of Castile, queen and regent of France

Names worth a look

ElenaGirlA form of Helen, from Greek Helenē; the meaning is uncertain, and the popular 'torch' or 'light' link is unproven.Middle Ages · peak 2020

BridgetGirlFrom Irish Brighid, probably from a Celtic word meaning 'high, exalted'.Middle Ages · peak 1973

FeliciaGirlFeminine of Felix 'lucky, happy'.Rome · peak 1986

JennyGirlA medieval pet form of Jane and Janet, feminine forms of John (Hebrew 'God is gracious'); now also used as a short…Middle Ages · peak 1977

MeredithGirlFrom Welsh Maredudd, Old Welsh Morgetiud; the second element is probably iudd 'lord', and the first is uncertain.Middle Ages · peak 1980

AdaGirlUncertain. Usually taken as a short form of Germanic names in adal 'noble', but it has also been linked with Hebrew…Middle Ages · peak 1888

BelindaGirlUncertain. It appears in English literature from the late 17th century and was used by Alexander Pope in The Rape of…Revolutions · peak 1961 · forgotten

BlancaGirl'White', from a Germanic word (blank) borrowed into Late Latin and the Romance languages.Middle Ages · peak 1990

Where this comes from

Royal and noble genealogies
Medieval European charters and records
The Paris tax rolls of the 1290s
National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source

Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.

Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.