| Parker | Blake | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Park keeper | black OR pale — genuinely opposite meanings |
| Origin | English | english |
| Gender | Unisex | Unisex |
| Pronunciation | PAR-ker | BLAYK |
| Syllables | 2 | 1 |
| First appeared | 1880 | 1883 |
| Peak year | 2014 (5,720) | 2012 (6,047) |
| In 2025 | 3,477 | 1,080 |
| Trend | Steady | Declining |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Parker | Blake |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 22,420 | 9,021 |
| 2010s | 49,234 | 41,721 |
| 2000s | 35,729 | 50,109 |
| 1990s | 16,234 | 45,873 |
| 1980s | 2,800 | 25,398 |
| 1970s | 632 | 5,443 |
| 1960s | 524 | 4,721 |
| 1950s | 568 | 2,594 |
| 1940s | 578 | 583 |
| 1930s | 559 | 320 |
| 1920s | 728 | 414 |
| 1910s | 546 | 260 |
| 1900s | 143 | 45 |
| 1890s | 134 | 37 |
| 1880s | 112 | 19 |
An English occupational surname, “keeper of the park.”
From two Old English words that fell together in Middle English: 'blaec' meaning 'black, dark' and 'blac' meaning 'pale, fair'. This produces a true opposite-meaning dispute, and for any given bearer it is usually impossible to tell which sense was meant.
Parker is more popular than Blake today: about 3,477 US babies were given the name Parker in 2025, compared with 1,080 named Blake.
Parker means Park keeper (English origin), while Blake means black OR pale — genuinely opposite meanings (english origin).
In US records, Parker first appears in 1880 and Blake in 1883, so Parker has the longer recorded history.