Names/B

Boston

boys’ nameComeback · modern nameCompare

Boston is ranked 627th among boys in 2024 (449 births). Its best rank was 536th, in 2012.

Rank in 2024
#627up 8 from 2023
Births in 2024
4490.03% of boys
Peak year
2014497 births
Best rank
#536in 2012
Since 1880
11,437people given the name
Babies named Boston, by year of birthboys
012525037550018801900192019401960198020002020

The story in the numbers

10,448 boys have been named Boston in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 2014, with 497 births.

This is a comeback. After an early peak the name fell to a fraction of its former share, and it has been climbing again for the past decade.

Half of everyone given the name was born by 2013, and the 2010s alone account for 43%. It has spent 26 of 145 years in the top 1,000.

It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 989 girls have also been given it, 8.6% of the total.

Rank among boys, year by year

Higher on the chart = more popularrank (gaps = outside the top 1,000)
#1#250#500#750#100018801900192019401960198020002020

By decade

Decadeboys named Boston
1880s15
1890s12
1900s29
1910s94
1920s119
1930s72
1940s76
1950s33
1960s22
1970s17
1980s111
1990s496
2000s2,609
2010s4,481
2020s2,262

In 2014, its biggest year

Boston was the 555th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 2014 were Noah, Liam, Mason, Jacob and William. See all of 2014.

Names that rose and fell with Boston

Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.

What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.