Boone
Masculine · Old French roots · “either "good" or "from Bohon”
Boone is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 6,887 boys against 5 girls since 1880.
Boone comes to first-name use the long way round — through centuries of English and Anglo-Norman surnames, and through a stretch of American map that carries it still: Boone, North Carolina, the Boone counties of Kentucky, Missouri and Iowa, the Daniel Boone National Forest. One syllable, one long vowel, and no one has to ask how to spell it.
How old is the name Boone?
Boone first appears in US birth records in 1889 — 136 years ago. The typical Boone is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 6,600 people named Boone are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Boone most popular?
Boone peaked in 2025, reaching #423 nationally. Today it ranks #423, exactly where it peaked. See the whole 2025 chart.
Boone appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From bon (Old French, "good") to Boone
The story of Boone
Boone begins as a family name in England, arriving in one of the two ways surnames usually do — from a word applied to a person, or from a place left behind in Normandy. It crossed the Atlantic with English settlers and became attached, permanently, to the American backcountry: Daniel Boone, the eighteenth-century Kentucky frontiersman, put the name on forests, rivers and county courthouses across the middle of the country. Those place names kept it in circulation long after the man, and the American habit of turning surnames into first names eventually did the rest. Its life as a given name is genuinely recent — most people carrying it are young.
Meaningscholars disagree
either "good" or "from Bohon"
Surname scholars give two roads. One traces Boone to Anglo-Norman and Old French bon, "good" — a nickname surname, sibling to the spellings Bone and Boon. The other traces it to Bohon in Normandy, a place name that entered England after the Conquest and produced the powerful medieval family de Bohun. Both are respectable; neither has won.
How the name formed
- bonOld French, "good"
- Bone
- Boon
- Boone
Related forms: Boon · Bone · Bohun · Bon
Pronouncing Boone
BOON
One syllable, rhyming with moon. The doubled o and silent e cause no trouble — English readers get it right on sight, and it survives the phone and the loudspeaker intact.
Nicknames for Boone
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
- 1889
- Most boys named
- 2025762 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #423reached in 2025
- Change vs 2023
- +60.4%762 in 2025, from 475
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.
Boone in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Boon in English — spelling variant
- Bone in English — spelling variant
- Bohun in Anglo-Norman — related form
- Bon in French — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Texas, Ohio, North Carolina.
Boones among us
people named Boone are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 2,242 born in 2025 was named Boone
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 Carrol test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Boone's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Carrol climbed just as high around 1934, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Carrol's path sketches the road Boone is walking now.
Boone 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 Boone is headed
Boone 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.
Boone beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Boone 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, and already familiar to Americans from towns, counties and a national forest — almost nobody asks how to write it.
- One syllable and one clear vowel: easy to call across a yard, hard to mishear.
- A documented surname line reaching back to medieval England and Normandy, so it is old even though its use as a first name is new.
- Rare enough in classrooms that it stays distinctive, without being a name anyone finds strange.
- Boone's Farm, the inexpensive flavored wine, is a real association for American adults of a certain age. It fades quickly once there is a child attached to the name, but it is worth knowing about.
- The Daniel Boone connection carries the frontier with it — appealing to some families, and for others tangled up with the westward displacement of Native nations. Either way, the association is strong and will follow the name.
- One syllable gives you little to shorten. Bo is the only short form in real use, so a long or ceremonial version of the name is not on offer.
- With a one-syllable surname, Boone can land clipped and abrupt — worth saying the full name out loud a few times before deciding.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Boone to the vote.
Add it to a family vote or a couple’s swipe deck — the other person gets one card, a simple answer and room to say why. No app, no account for them.
Only the people you invite can see your list.
Already decided on Boone? Hide it among decoys and let them guess.
What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Boone
Masculine · Old French roots · #423 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Boones are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 6,600 people named Boone are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Boone in 2025?
- Boone ranks #423 among US boy names in 2025, with 762 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Boone?
- About 1 in every 2,242 US boys born in 2025 was named Boone — 762 in all.
- Will my child share the name Boone with classmates?
- Boone will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Boone
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Julius#424 · Solomon#422 · Lucca#425 · Jaden#421 · Isaias#426 · Francis#420 · Tadeo#427 · Lian#428
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Boone? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Boone and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Or jump into a head-to-head
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
No advertising trackers and no data sellinghow we handle your dataindependent and founder-run, about Name Battle