How popular is the baby name Boston in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Boston.

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Popularity of the baby name Boston


Posts that mention the name Boston

Popular baby names in England and Wales (UK), 2012

Flag of the United Kingdom
Flag of the United Kingdom

The most popular baby names in England and Wales were announced last week.

According to the Office for National Statistics, the region’s top names were Harry for boys and Amelia for girls.

Here are the top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2012:

Top Girl NamesTop Boy Names
1. Amelia
2. Olivia
3. Jessica
4. Emily
5. Lily
6. Ava
7. Mia
8. Isla
9. Sophie
10. Isabella
11. Evie
12. Ruby
13. Poppy
14. Grace
15. Sophia
16. Chloe
17. Isabelle
18. Ella
19. Freya
20. Charlotte		1. Harry
2. Oliver
3. Jack
4. Charlie
5. Jacob
6. Thomas
7. Alfie
8. Riley
9. William
10. James
11. Joshua
12. George
13. Ethan
14. Noah
15. Samuel
16. Daniel
17. Oscar
18. Max
19. Muhammad
20. Leo

The England-only top 20 included all of the above except for Archie (not Leo) on the boys’ side.

The Wales-only top 20 included Dylan, Mason, Logan, Tyler and Isaac (not Samuel, Daniel, Oscar, Max or Muhammad) for boys and Seren, Megan, Ffion and Layla (not Isla, Chloe, Freya or Charlotte) for girls.

Newbies to the England and Wales top 100 are…

  • Hugo, Sonny, Seth, Elliott, Theodore, Rory and Ellis for boys. (Out are Joel, Hayden, John, Ashton, Jackson, Ben and Reece.)
  • Mollie, Ivy, Darcey, Tilly, Sara and Violet for girls. (Out are Lexie, Lauren, Rebecca, Tia, Nicola and Kayla.)

Here’s a selection of names from the other end of the list (each given to 10 babies or fewer):

Rare Girl NamesRare Boy Names
Ambreen, Anest, Arrietty, Arzoo, Bowie, Charvi, Cressida, Csenge, Delyth, Devoiry, Eveie, Flourish, Gwenno, Liepa, Llio, Lliwen, Loveday, Mayameen, Mazvita, Migle, Makanaka, Ocean-Blu, Pip, Senuli, Strawberry, Testimony, Tiggy, TulsiAlieu, Atreyu, Bede, Betzalel, Boston, Cavalli, Celt, Cem, Connah, Croyde, Dacre, Exodus, His, Huckleberry, James-Dean, Jools, Jovi, Louix, MD., Messiah, Motty, Neyo, Nuh, Nuno, Papa, Peregrine, Platon, Reco, Rhome, Soul, Ting, Tirth, Ugnius, Wing, Winner

Finally, here are some older posts with the 2011, 2010, 2009, and 2008 lists of most popular names in England & Wales.

Source: Baby Names, England and Wales, 2012 (ONS)

Image: Adapted from Flag of the United Kingdom (public domain)

Name in the news: Boston Harold

boston herald logo

Boston Harold Morgan was born October 8 to John and Amanda Morgan of East Texas. His first name was inspired by the rock band Boston, and his middle name is a family name.

When his parents discovered there was a newspaper called the Boston Herald — just two letters away from Boston Harold — they ordered several copies of the October 8 edition to send out as part of the baby’s birth announcement:

The Morgans plan to announce the good news to friends and family by sending copies of the Boston Herald across the Lone Star State, inking in the name “Morgan” beneath the paper’s blue banner.

The folks at the Boston Herald reciprocated by printing a story about Boston Harold just a few days later.

Source: Wolchover, Eva. “Can we have a vowel, please?” Boston Herald 13 Oct. 2007.

(A few years after this post went up, I discovered a baby named Jackson Daily after the Jackson Daily News.)

Name of the day: Boston

Boston in early 1800s
Boston circa 1800

In 1630, a group of English Puritans led by John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Company started a settlement on the Shawmut Peninsula. At first they called it Trimountaine*, after a local hill that had three peaks, but later the same year they renamed it Boston, “probably out of gratitude to the merchants of Boston in Lincolnshire, who had subscribed generously to the stock of the Company.”

The original Boston, a port town in England, had been built up around St. Botolph’s Church. So the name of the town is likely a contraction of the term “St. Botolph’s town.”

And who was Botolph? An English abbot of the 7th century. His name, Botolphus, is a Latinized form of the Germanic name Botulf, which can be traced back to two words: boda, meaning “messenger, herald,” and wulf, meaning “wolf.”

Boston soon became the capital of the Massachusetts Bay colony (stealing the title from nearby Charlestown). And it was also the site of many U.S. firsts, including:

  • First city park, 1634 (Boston Common)
  • First public school, 1635 (Boston Latin)
  • First printing press, 1638
  • First multi-page newspaper, 1690 (Publick Occurrences, Both Forreign and Domestick)
  • First post office, 1639
  • First regularly published newspaper, 1704 (The Boston News-Letter)
  • First lighthouse, 1716 (Boston Light)
  • First chocolate factory, 1765
  • First school for the blind, 1832 (New England Asylum for the Blind)
  • First school for African-Americans, 1835 (Abiel Smith School)
  • First police force (with both day and night watch), 1838
  • First major municipal library, 1848 (Boston Public Library)
  • First public garden, 1859
  • First subway, 1897

(Here are lists of the top baby names in Boston in the 1600s and 1700s, btw.)

Today, Boston remains the capital of Massachusetts (now a state). Not only that, but it’s also the largest city in New England.

So how many babies have been named Boston?

Small numbers of U.S. baby boys were named Boston every year from the mid-1800s to the late 1900s. But in the 1990s, usage of the name began to increase steadily. (Also during that decade, Boston started to see regular usage as a girl name.)

Boston finally became one of the top 1,000 boy names in the nation in 2004:

  • 2016: 416 baby boys named Boston [rank: 636th]
  • 2015: 450 baby boys named Boston [rank: 606th]
  • 2014: 497 baby boys named Boston [rank: 555th] – peak year so far
  • 2013: 465 baby boys named Boston [rank: 566th]
  • 2012: 487 baby boys named Boston [rank: 535th]
  • 2011: 456 baby boys named Boston [rank: 556th]
  • 2010: 462 baby boys named Boston [rank: 545th]
  • 2009: 491 baby boys named Boston [rank: 537th]
  • 2008: 461 baby boys named Boston [rank: 563rd]
  • 2007: 388 baby boys named Boston [rank: 627th]
  • 2006: 374 baby boys named Boston [rank: 630th]
  • 2005: 302 baby boys named Boston [rank: 687th]
  • 2004: 188 baby boys named Boston [rank: 909th]
  • 2003: 130 baby boys named Boston

The states with the most baby Bostons are a mix of the high-population states you’d expect (Texas and California) plus a couple of low-population states you might not expect (Utah and Oklahoma). Usage is not particularly high in Massachusetts itself. One of the Texas babies named Boston — full name Boston Harold Morgan — ended up being featured in the similarly named Boston Herald a few days after he was born.

What do you think of Boston as a baby name?

*The name Trimountaine lives on in the name of Boston’s Tremont Street.

Sources:

  • Wood, Jennifer M. “24 Famous Boston Firsts.” Mental Floss 20 Apr. 2015.
  • Boston – Wikipedia
  • “Origin and Growth of Boston.” Documents of the City of Boston for the Year 1919. Vol. 3. Boston: City of Boston Printing Department, 1920.

Image: Old State House and State Street, Boston 1801 (public domain)

[Latest update: Jun. 2023]