| Sawyer | Blake | |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | Woodcutter | black OR pale — genuinely opposite meanings |
| Origin | English | english |
| Gender | Unisex | Unisex |
| Pronunciation | SOY-er | BLAYK |
| Syllables | 2 | 1 |
| First appeared | 1913 | 1883 |
| Peak year | 2015 (4,272) | 2012 (6,047) |
| In 2025 | 2,941 | 1,080 |
| Trend | Rising | Declining |
Source: US Social Security Administration.
| Decade | Sawyer | Blake |
|---|---|---|
| 2020s | 17,914 | 9,021 |
| 2010s | 34,031 | 41,721 |
| 2000s | 10,153 | 50,109 |
| 1990s | 3,453 | 45,873 |
| 1980s | 275 | 25,398 |
| 1970s | 5 | 5,443 |
| 1960s | 0 | 4,721 |
| 1950s | 0 | 2,594 |
| 1940s | 0 | 583 |
| 1930s | 0 | 320 |
| 1920s | 0 | 414 |
| 1910s | 7 | 260 |
| 1900s | 0 | 45 |
| 1890s | 0 | 37 |
| 1880s | 0 | 19 |
An English occupational surname, “one who saws wood.”
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.
Sawyer is more popular than Blake today: about 2,941 US babies were given the name Sawyer in 2025, compared with 1,080 named Blake.
Sawyer means Woodcutter (English origin), while Blake means black OR pale — genuinely opposite meanings (english origin).
In US records, Sawyer first appears in 1913 and Blake in 1883, so Blake has the longer recorded history.