Boe
Masculine · “to live”
Boe is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 1,079 boys against 22 girls since 1880.
Boe is a spelling of Bo, a short Scandinavian name that comes from a verb about living somewhere — to dwell, to settle, to have a home.
How old is the name Boe?
Boe first appears in US birth records in 1971 — 54 years ago. The typical Boe alive today was born around 2010, making them about 15 years old. About 1,100 people named Boe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Boe most popular?
Boe peaked in 1982, reaching #1999 nationally. Today it ranks #3314, 1,315 places below that high. See the whole 1982 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From bua to Boe
The story of Boe
Bua gave the Norse languages their words for dwelling and for a farm, and Bo has been a Danish and Swedish men's name since the medieval period. It reached America with Scandinavian emigration and also arrived, quite separately, as an American nickname of the kind that becomes a name — the same way Buck, Chip and Cash did. Boe with an e is the Norwegian surname spelling and is used in American records for both lines.
Meaningscholars disagree
to live, to dwell
The Scandinavian Bo is generally derived from Old Norse bua, to live or reside, and is an old Danish and Swedish name. Separately, American Bo is often a short form of Beauregard or simply a nickname of no fixed origin, and Boe is also a Norwegian surname from a farm name.
How the name formed
- bua
- Bo
- Boe
Related forms: Bo · Bo · Bø
Pronouncing Boe
BOH
One syllable. The e is silent and changes nothing you can hear.
Nicknames for Boe
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
- 1971
- Most boys named
- 201540 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1999reached in 1982
- Change vs 2024
- +9.4%35 in 2025, from 32
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.
Boe in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bo in Danish — spelling variant
- Bo in Swedish — same name
- Bø in Norwegian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio.
Boes among us
people named Boe are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 48,802 born in 2025 was named Boe
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 Orazio test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Boe's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Orazio climbed just as high around 1918, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Orazio's path sketches the road Boe is walking now.
Boe sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Boe is headed
Boe should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Boe beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Boe in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable and three letters — as short as a name gets.
- A documented Scandinavian meaning that is homely and unpretentious.
- Read correctly on sight by every English speaker.
- Bo is the standard spelling and the e will be dropped for him constantly.
- It sounds identical to beau and to bow, and both will be mentioned.
- A three-letter name gives no room for a nickname.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Boe
Masculine · #3314 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Boes are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,100 people named Boe are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Boe in 2025?
- Boe ranks #3314 among US boy names in 2025, with 35 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Boe?
- About 1 in every 48,802 US boys born in 2025 was named Boe — 35 in all.
- Will my child share the name Boe with classmates?
- Boe will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Boe
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Rainier#3314 · Coulter#3314 · Caio#3314 · Kaydon#3314 · Daksh#3314 · Kree#3314 · Calen#3314 · Mathis#3314
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Boe? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Boe and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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