Boaz
Masculine · Hebrew roots
Boaz belongs to the Book of Ruth — the landowner of Bethlehem who lets Ruth gather grain in his field and later marries her, making him, in the biblical genealogy, King David's great-grandfather. The same name was given to one of the two bronze pillars standing at the entrance of Solomon's temple. Two syllables, both open, and it has kept the same spelling in English since the Reformation-era translators brought it over straight from Hebrew.
How old is the name Boaz?
Boaz first appears in US birth records in 1928 — 97 years ago. The typical Boaz is a kid of about 8 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,400 people named Boaz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Boaz most popular?
Boaz peaked in 2025, reaching #891 nationally. Today it ranks #891, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Boaz appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Bo'az (Hebrew) to Boaz
The story of Boaz
Boaz is Hebrew, and its story begins in the Book of Ruth, where he appears as the man of Bethlehem who marries the Moabite widow Ruth — a narrative the Hebrew Bible ends by tracing forward to David. The name surfaces a second time in the Bible as one of the pair of bronze pillars, Jachin and Boaz, flanking the temple in Jerusalem. Greek and Latin translators wrote it Booz, which is how it reached most Catholic Europe, while English Bibles translated from Hebrew restored the fuller Boaz. It became a given name in the English-speaking world chiefly among Protestants who took names directly from scripture, and it has been in steady ordinary use in Israel for generations.
Meaningscholars disagree
usually read as "in him is strength"
The common reading splits the Hebrew into bo ("in him") and 'oz ("strength"). An older tradition renders it "swiftness" or "quickness" instead. Hebrew scholarship has never fully settled the etymology, and both readings are still printed in serious reference works.
How the name formed
- Bo'azHebrew
- BoozGreek and Latin Bibles
- BoazEnglish
Related forms: בֹּעַז (Bo'az) · Βοόζ (Booz) · Booz · Booz · Booz · Boaz
Pronouncing Boaz
BOH-az
Stress on the first syllable. The Hebrew is closer to BO-ahz, with a fuller second vowel. Some English speakers reach for boh-AZ on first sight, so expect to correct that now and then.
Nicknames for Boaz
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1928
- Most boys named
- 2025268 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #891reached in 2025
- Change vs 2024
- +21.3%268 in 2025, from 221
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Boaz in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- בֹּעַז (Bo'az) in Hebrew — same name
- Βοόζ (Booz) in Greek — transliteration
- Booz in Latin — transliteration
- Booz in Spanish — same name
- Booz in French — same name
- Boaz in Dutch — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Boazs among us
people named Boaz are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 6,373 born in 2025 was named Boaz
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Immanuel test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Boaz's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Immanuel climbed just as high around 2001, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Immanuel's path sketches the road Boaz is walking now.
Boaz is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Boaz is headed
Boaz should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Boaz beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Boaz in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Spelled the way it sounds once heard, and spelled the same way in English Bibles for centuries — there is no competing variant to choose between.
- Bo is a ready-made short form that already works as a name on its own.
- Documented continuously for well over two thousand years, from the Hebrew scriptures onward.
- In ordinary everyday use in Israel, so it travels as a real name rather than a novelty.
- It reads as unmistakably biblical, and specifically as a name chosen from scripture. That signal will follow him into rooms where it may or may not be what you intended to say.
- Most Americans have read it before they have heard it, so first meetings often involve a pronunciation correction — usually people guessing the stress on the second syllable.
- The rise here is recent and quick. He is very likely to be the only Boaz in his school, but that is less certain for children born a decade from now than it is today.
- There is a town called Boaz in Alabama, which occasionally comes up in conversation and is harmless enough.
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What they receive
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Boaz
Masculine · Hebrew roots · #891 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Boazs are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,400 people named Boaz are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Boaz in 2025?
- Boaz ranks #891 among US boy names in 2025, with 268 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Boaz?
- About 1 in every 6,373 US boys born in 2025 was named Boaz — 268 in all.
- Will my child share the name Boaz with classmates?
- Boaz will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Boaz
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Shepard#891 · Laith#893 · Hollis#893 · Eliezer#893 · Ishaan#893 · Alistair#897 · Lucien#897 · Marcello#897
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Boaz? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Boaz and another name?
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Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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