Boston
Feminine · “Botolph's stone”
Boston is given to both — 1,043 girls and 10,901 boys since 1880. See Boston as a boy nameSee other names given to both
Boston is a saint's stone. The English town is Botolph's stone — most likely a boundary marker or a preaching cross associated with a seventh-century Saxon abbot — and the Massachusetts city took the name from settlers who came from there.
How old is the name Boston?
Boston first appears in US birth records in 1992 — 33 years ago. The typical Boston is a kid of about 11 — this name's wave is very recent. About 1,000 people named Boston are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Boston most popular?
Boston peaked in 2014, reaching #2683 nationally. Today it ranks #3028, 345 places below that high. See the whole 2014 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Botolphs stan to Boston
The story of Boston
Boston in Lincolnshire was a substantial medieval port, and the Puritans who sailed for Massachusetts in 1630 included men from the town; they named their new settlement for it. Both places still have a St Botolph's church. As a given name Boston is very recent and thoroughly American, one of a group of city names — Boston, Austin, Dallas, Brooklyn, Memphis — used as first names, and it is given to sons more often than daughters.
Meaning
Botolph's stone
Boston in Lincolnshire is generally read as Botolphs stan, the stone of Botolph, an East Anglian abbot of the seventh century who founded a monastery in the area. The stone would have been a boundary marker or a cross. The reading is the standard one among place-name scholars, though the identification with that particular Botolph has been questioned.
How the name formed
- Botolphs stan
- Boston
Pronouncing Boston
BOSS-tun
Two syllables, stress on the first, the second reduced. Every English speaker says and spells it correctly, since the city is unavoidable.
Nicknames for Boston
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
- 1992
- Most girls named
- 201465 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #2683reached in 2014
- Change vs 2024
- +22.7%54 in 2025, from 44
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.
Boston in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: Utah, California, Texas.
Bostons among us
people named Boston are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 29,764 born in 2025 was named Boston
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 Jolena test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Boston's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Jolena climbed just as high around 1974, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Jolena's path sketches the road Boston is walking now.
Boston 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 Boston is headed
Boston 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.
Boston beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Boston in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- Said and spelled correctly by every English speaker without being told.
- Bo is a ready short form and a complete name in its own right.
- A documented English place-name with a genuinely old saint behind it.
- It is a major city first, and the place arrives before the person for everyone.
- It is given to sons more often than daughters, so a girl will be read as a boy on paper.
- Place-names as first names date visibly to the period that made them fashionable.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Boston to the vote.
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What they receive
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Boston
Feminine · #3028 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bostons are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Boston are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Boston in 2025?
- Boston ranks #3028 among US girl names in 2025, with 54 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Boston?
- About 1 in every 29,764 US girls born in 2025 was named Boston — 54 in all.
- Will my child share the name Boston with classmates?
- Boston will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Boston
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Minnie#3028 · Daila#3028 · Joann#3028 · Alethea#3028 · Mallie#3028 · Auria#3028 · Adria#3028 · Aalayah#3028
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Boston? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Boston 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.
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
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