Blakelee is a modern spelling of Blakely, an English surname and place name from Old English blaec and leah, usually read as "dark meadow" or "black clearing", though blaec could also mean pale. The -lee ending ties it to Brynlee, Paislee and the other -lee girls' names of the 2010s. In the United States Blakelee ranked number 13394 in 2000, peaked at number 1730 in 2019 and stands at number 2124 among girls' names in 2025.