Boston
Masculine · “Botolph's stone”
Boston is given to both — 10,901 boys and 1,043 girls since 1880. See Boston as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Boston began as a stone by a river in Lincolnshire, England, named for a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon monk, and crossed the Atlantic with Puritan settlers who gave the name to a harbor town in Massachusetts in 1630. It is one syllable of "boss" and one soft landing, an ending it shares with a long line of familiar names. Almost everyone who hears it knows how to spell it, though most will think of the city first.
How old is the name Boston?
Boston was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Boston is a kid of about 12 — this name's wave is very recent. About 10,500 people named Boston are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Boston most popular?
Boston peaked in 2012, reaching #536 nationally. Today it ranks #620, 84 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Boston appears on this list:
Where it comes from
From Botwulf to Boston
The story of Boston
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. From the town came a surname, and from the American city came the given name, which is how nearly every Boston on record today arrives: as a place turned into a first name, the way Austin, Camden and Dallas traveled. Its use as a given name is recent, and its wave belongs to the last couple of decades.
Meaning
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".
How the name formed
- Botwulf
- Botolph
- Bōtolphes stān
- Boston
Related forms: Bostón
Pronouncing 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.
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 2013465 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #536reached in 2012
- Change vs 2023
- +4.2%451 in 2025, from 433
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
The same name elsewhere
- Bostón in Spanish — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Utah, Texas, California.
Bostons among us
people named Boston are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 3,787 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 Marcellus 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: Marcellus climbed just as high around 1902, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marcellus'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.
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.
Boston beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Boston in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- The -ton ending sits comfortably beside Colton, Weston and Payton, familiar without being duplicated in the classroom.
- Recognized instantly in the US and across the English-speaking world, since the city carries it.
- 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.
- Boston is noticeably more common in some states than others, so how ordinary it sounds will depend a good deal on where the child grows up.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Boston
Masculine · #620 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 10,500 people named Boston are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Boston in 2025?
- Boston ranks #620 among US boy names in 2025, with 451 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Boston?
- About 1 in every 3,787 US boys born in 2025 was named Boston — 451 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.
Westley#619 · Keegan#621 · Koen#622 · Dominick#622 · Kylian#622 · Jaiden#617 · Harlan#617 · Hassan#625
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.
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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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