Given name & surname
Blanka
“a shining, fair-skinned woman”·“beautiful”
Blanka is a variant of Bianca. One Italian interpretation is “a shining, fair-skinned woman.” Blanka shares an earlier linguistic root with Blanche. One Old French and Germanic interpretation is “beautiful.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Blanka is a variant of Bianca. One Italian interpretation is “a shining, fair-skinned woman.” Blanka shares an earlier linguistic root with Blanche. One Old French and Germanic interpretation is “beautiful.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Blanka is a variant of Bianca. An origin associated with Bianca is Italian. Blanka shares an earlier linguistic root with Blanche. Blanche has been associated with Old French and Germanic naming traditions.
Explained through its name family
How it developed
In Slovak usage, Blanka developed from Blanca.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1981. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin. Blanka is a variant of Bianca. The history of Bianca gives this family its wider story. Shakespeare used Bianca in two Italian settings: she is Katharina’s sister in The Taming of the Shrew and another character in Othello. These literary associations sit alongside the name’s straightforward Italian word origin.
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Blanka through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 73
- 0 boys · 73 girls
- Most popular year
- 1994
- 9 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for girls is 5 in 2017. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for girls was 9 in 1994. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 604 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Blanka’s family of names
In Polish usage, Blanka has a diminutive in Blaneczka. In Slovak usage, Blanka developed from the Spanish form Blanca. In German usage, Blanka has a related form in Bianca.
Inner ring: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Blanka has relatives in 16 languages.
16 related names in 16 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Across languages 14
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 2
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
People named Blanka
- Blanka VlašićCroatian high jumperborn 1983
- BlankaPolish singer and modelborn 1999
- Blanka TelekiHungarian painter, pioneer of women's education (1806–1862)
- Blanka LipińskaPolish writerborn 1985
- Blanka PaulůCzech runner, ski runner, local politician and educatorborn 1954
- Blanka VasHungarian cyclistborn 2001
- Blanka BohdanováCzech actress and painter1930–2021
- Blanka Böde-BíróHungarian handball goalkeeperborn 1994
- Blanka WaleskáCzechoslovak actress (1910-1986)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Blanka, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.