Boston

Boy name

Boston has been given to 11,944 babies in the U.S. since 1880. It peaked in 2014 and currently ranks #620 for boys (2025).

Meaning & origin /ˈbɔstən/

The US city is named after the English town (from which several prominent colonists had come), which itself is sometimes said to be named as a contraction of Botolph's town or Botolph's stone (the name Botolph itself coming from Old English Botwulf, from boda + wulf). However, this is uncertain.

Origin: place names, surnames

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Popularity over time births per year, 1880–2025

Hover or tap the chart to read any year.

Total babies

11,944

Peak year

2014 (562 babies)

Rank in 2025

#620 for boys

First recorded

1880

10-year trend

▲ +3%

Gender split

9% girls / 91% boys

Names with a similar vibe

Same primary gender, peaked around the same years, and roughly as common as Boston.

11,934 babies since 1967

11,889 babies since 1912

11,721 babies since 1917

12,176 babies since 1967

12,231 babies since 1915

11,595 babies since 1880

11,594 babies since 2000

11,570 babies since 1971

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