Origins
Blackjack was first played in France before the start of the 18th century, where it was originally called vingt et un, twenty-one, and is believed to have evolved from other popular French card games of the period such as chemin-de-fer. The blackjack game's popularity spread to the rest of Europe and by the early 18th century had reached the USA.

The Name
The name originated from an early big payout hand consisting of the ace of spades and the jack of clubs which was know as Blackjack, the name stuck although the improved payout for the hand disappeared long ago.

Popularity
The game remained popular as it is an easy game to learn and play, and the player had some control over their fate. Blackjack's popularity continued to increase with the legalization of gambling in parts of the USA in the 1930s, but it was in the 1960s that it saw a surge in popularity.

Analysis
This was due to mathematicians and statisticians becoming interested in the game and analyzing the odds for getting combinations of cards. Various books were published showing gamblers how to play the game and increase their edge against the house. These strategies were improved even further as the availability of computing power grew and the statisticians were able to simulate thousands of hands and develop what has today become the blackjack basic strategy.

Card Counting
Part of the blackjack strategy that was developed involved card counting which enabled the intelligent player to increase and decrease bets when the count showed that the deck was favoring them or not.

Today
Casinos did their best to hamper the "counters" by increasing the number of decks and introducing more frequent shuffling. However these changes have done nothing to affect the popularity of blackjack and it remains the most played table game in casinos to today either onland or at the ever increasing online casinos.