Blaire carries 7,156 cumulative American girls on SSA record, sits at rank 446, and reached its peak in 2024 — a fresh contemporary high. The chart shows minimal pre-2010 use as a girl name, a steady 2010s climb, and continuing growth that places Blaire in the broader American gender-flip surname-as-first-name cluster currently expanding through 2020s naming.
The Scottish Gaelic source
Blaire is a feminine respelling of Blair, ultimately from the Scottish Gaelic blar, meaning "plain" or "field." The name began as a Scottish surname tied to specific clan and place names, including Blair Castle in Perthshire. The Blaire spelling with the silent -e represents an American feminization that pulls the visual register toward the soft-feminine cluster while preserving the underlying sound.
Blair Waldorf, the character played by Leighton Meester on Gossip Girl (2007-2012), gave the name its dominant English-language anchor for the 2010s and shifted it firmly toward female register in American naming. Earlier uses of Blair as both male and female persist, but the current SSA expansion is overwhelmingly female.
The surname-feminization cluster
Blaire sits with Avery, Kennedy, Sutton, and Hadley in the surname-as-first-name cluster that has powered contemporary American girl naming. Browse the broader Scottish Gaelic girl names family, or scan the rising names chart for cluster context.
The counter-reading
The spelling fork is the practical question. Blair, Blaire, and Blare are all in active American SSA use, with Blair holding the original surname register and Blaire signaling the feminine-coded contemporary form. Parents should expect lifelong clarification. The one-syllable BLAIR sound is short, crisp, and travels easily. The Gossip Girl association is universally positive, which makes the name unusually well-supported. Sibling pairings work cleanly with other surname-style girl names.