The Bly surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 4,823 people carried this name — #6,955 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 61,000 people counted. That is up 3% from 4,705 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Bly surname
English surname, from Old English bliþe (“friendly, gentle”).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Bly» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 68 people named Bly.
3 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 12 départements, most often Seine-Maritime.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In the Nordic population registers
121 people named Bly are counted in Sweden and Finland.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published. Finland counts its citizens, at home or abroad.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown) · Digital and Population Data Services Agency (DVV), Finland, surname statistics, August 2026 — CC BY 4.0.
In print
Bly in American newspapers,
1890–1910.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 18,195,576 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Bly,
with a public archive behind them.
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Nellie Bly 1864–1922 · writer -
Nellie Bly 1865–1922 · writer
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Belden Bly 1914–2006 · lawyer -
Jim Bly 1922–1967 · association football coach -
Billy Bly 1920–1982 · association football player
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Billy Bly 1920–1982 · association football player
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Bly.
- Bloyer 454 · U.S. census
- Bluem 138 · U.S. census
- Blum 17,458 · U.S. census
- Blume 5,826 · U.S. census
- Blumenfeld 1,594 · U.S. census
- Blumstein 445 · U.S. census
- Bo 1,348 · U.S. census
- Boa 213 · U.S. census
- Boada 378 · U.S. census
- Boas 892 · U.S. census
- Boban 216 · U.S. census
- Bobb 3,552 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Bly is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.