Head to head · Boys' names
Boston vs Keegan
#620 vs #621 in 2025
Boston is a whisker ahead (#620 vs #621 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Boston is holding its place on the charts, Keegan is stepping back from its peak.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Boston leads 3 measures of 6; Keegan leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Boston #946, Keegan — — Boston higher
- 1890s: Boston #901, Keegan — — Boston higher
- 1900s: Boston #1150, Keegan — — Boston higher
- 1910s: Boston #2151, Keegan — — Boston higher
- 1920s: Boston #2479, Keegan — — Boston higher
- 1930s: Boston #2803, Keegan — — Boston higher
- 1940s: Boston #2660, Keegan — — Boston higher
- 1950s: Boston #3286, Keegan — — Boston higher
- 1960s: Boston #3923, Keegan #3420 — Keegan higher
- 1970s: Boston #5042, Keegan #2224 — Keegan higher
- 1980s: Boston #3880, Keegan #713 — Keegan higher
- 1990s: Boston #1904, Keegan #385 — Keegan higher
- 2000s: Boston #938, Keegan #247 — Keegan higher
- 2010s: Boston #591, Keegan #288 — Keegan higher
- 2020s: Boston #615, Keegan #566 — Keegan higher
Boston stood higher in 8 of 15 decades; Keegan has held the lead since the 1960s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Boston | Keegan |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #946 | — |
| 1890s | #901 | — |
| 1900s | #1150 | — |
| 1910s | #2151 | — |
| 1920s | #2479 | — |
| 1930s | #2803 | — |
| 1940s | #2660 | — |
| 1950s | #3286 | — |
| 1960s | #3923 | #3420 |
| 1970s | #5042 | #2224 |
| 1980s | #3880 | #713 |
| 1990s | #1904 | #385 |
| 2000s | #938 | #247 |
| 2010s | #591 | #288 |
| 2020s | #615 | #566 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Boston
Botolph's stone
The English town of Boston takes its name from a boundary or market stone associated with St Botolph, a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon monk. Botolph itself comes from Old English Botwulf, generally read as "messenger wolf" or "herald wolf".
Botwulf → Botolph → Bōtolphes stān → Boston
How it traveled
The name starts as a place: Boston in Lincolnshire, on the tidal river Witham, whose name is understood as the stone of Botolph, a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon monk who founded a monastery in the area. In 1630, English Puritans — many from that part of Lincolnshire — named their new settlement on Massachusetts Bay after it.
Keegan
descendant of Aodhagán — 'little Aodh', from Aodh, 'fire'
The chain is well documented: the Irish personal name Aodh ('fire') gave the diminutive Aodhagán, which gave the surname Mac Aodhagáin or Ó Aodhagáin, anglicized as Keegan and Egan.
Aodh → Aodhagán → Mac Aodhagáin → MacEgan / Keegan → Keegan
How it traveled
The Mac Aodhagáin were among Ireland's hereditary brehon families, legal scholars who kept and taught native Irish law under the Gaelic lordships, particularly in Connacht and in Ormond in the south. Their name was built from Aodhagán, a diminutive of the old personal name Aodh, meaning fire.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Boston
BOSS-tun
Stress on the first syllable, which sounds exactly like the word "boss". No r anywhere in it, so the pronunciation holds up in most accents; some speakers say the ending closer to BOSS-tin.
- Bo — The most common short form, and a well-established given name in its own right for boys in the US.
- Bos — Informal, mostly spoken among family and friends rather than written.
- Bossy — A playground or sibling nickname; worth knowing about in advance given its other meaning.
Keegan
KEE-gən
Stress on the first syllable. The spelling gives the sound away, so it rarely needs repeating.
- Keeg — Informal, mostly among friends and teammates; not used as a name on its own.
- Keegs — Informal and affectionate, common in sports and school settings.
- Kee — Family-level shortening, used mainly with young children.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Boston if you want…
- a long American recordBoston was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Keegan if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsKeegan is stepping back from its peak
- a newer arrivalKeegan entered the US charts in 1965
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Boston
Strengths
- Everyone can already spell it and say it correctly on the first try — a rare thing for a name this uncommon among children.
- Comes with a short form, Bo, that works as a standalone name and needs no explanation.
- The documented line runs back to a seventh-century English monk and a stone in Lincolnshire, so there is real history under a modern-sounding name.
To consider
- It names one particular city, and people will assume a connection — family roots, a college, a team. If there is no link, expect to answer the question often, and cheerfully.
- The city's sports teams are famous enough that the name may pick up jokes or loyalties that have nothing to do with the child, especially outside New England.
- Its use as a first name is very recent, so it currently reads as belonging to children and young adults rather than to any older generation. That may or may not matter to you.
Keegan
Strengths
- Spelled the way it sounds in English — two syllables, no silent letters, no competing pronunciations.
- Genuine Irish ancestry with a traceable line from Aodh through Aodhagán to the Mac Aodhagáin brehon families.
- Widely recognized as a surname across the English-speaking world, so it is familiar before it is explained.
To consider
- Keagan, Kegan and Keeghan all exist, so the spelling will occasionally be queried even though this one is the most common. A short confirmation, not a lifelong battle.
- It sits in a crowded corner of similar sounds — Keaton, Kian, Kellan, Teagan — and can be misheard among them in a noisy room.
- Its strongest years are recent enough that most people carrying it are teenagers and young adults, so it currently reads as a name of that generation rather than an old family one.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Boston and Keegan in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Boston and Keegan?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Boston and Keegan — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Boston or Keegan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Boston or Keegan?
- Boston, in 2025: Boston ranked #620 with 451 babies; Keegan ranked #621 with 449 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Boston or Keegan?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Boston moved down 26 places; Keegan moved down 125 places.
- Which is the older name, Boston or Keegan?
- Boston was already in use when US records began in 1880; Keegan entered the US charts in 1965. On the American record, Boston is the older name.
- How many people are named Boston and Keegan?
- About 10,500 people named Boston are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 38,000 people named Keegan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Bostons or Keegans in the classroom?
- Boston will almost certainly be the only one in school. Keegan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
Sixty more head-to-heads are dealt in the arena every day — or line up Boston, Keegan and the rest of your shortlist with your last name in one printable report.
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