Boden
A masculine name of English origin meaning "level ground" or "soil".
Name Census estimates that about 4,435 living Americans carry the first name Boden. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Boden today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Boden births was 2023 (344 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Boden. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Boden with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Boden is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
4.4K
~ 1 in 77,284 Americans
Peak year
2023
344 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#817
Tracked since 1987
Census
Boden in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,906 people with the first name Boden, which placed it at #5,750 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#5,750
National first-name rank
People counted
2.9K
2,906 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
1.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
90.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Boden
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boden is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Boden described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Boden at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White90.1% · 2,619
- Two or more races4.5% · 131
- Hispanic or Latino4.0% · 115
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 21
- Black or African American0.5% · 14
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 6
Popularity
Boden: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Boden from the 1980s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,921 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Boden remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Boden by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Boden during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bodens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 35 states and territories. California, Minnesota, Washington recorded the most babies named Boden, while Alaska, Nebraska, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 89 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Boden
The given name Boden is of English origin and is derived from the Old English word "boden," which means "messenger" or "one who makes announcements." This name has its roots in the Anglo-Saxon period, dating back to the 5th to 11th centuries AD.
In the early days, the name Boden was likely associated with individuals who served as messengers or heralds, carrying important news or announcements between villages or kingdoms. It may have also been used to denote someone who had the role of a town crier or a public announcer.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Boden can be found in the Domesday Book, a manuscript compiled in 1086 AD by order of William the Conqueror. This document contains records of land ownership and taxation in England, and it lists several individuals with the name Boden or variations of it.
Throughout history, there have been notable individuals who bore the name Boden. One such person was John Boden (1615-1672), an English clergyman and author who wrote several religious works, including "A Guide for the Penitent" and "The Believer's Triumph Over Death."
Another notable figure was Thomas Boden (1600-1663), an English politician and member of Parliament who played a role in the English Civil War. He initially supported the Parliamentarian cause but later switched sides and became a supporter of King Charles I.
In the realm of literature, we find Boden Frank (1862-1935), an American novelist and short story writer known for works such as "The Unwilling Vestal" and "The Daughter of a Magnate." He was born in New York City and spent much of his life writing and teaching.
Moving to the 20th century, there was Boden Clarke (1884-1961), a British artist and illustrator who gained recognition for his paintings of landscapes and rural scenes. He was born in London and was a member of the Royal Academy of Arts.
Finally, we have Boden Westcott (1870-1957), a British archaeologist and Egyptologist who made significant contributions to the study of ancient Egyptian civilization. He led excavations in various sites in Egypt, including the Valley of the Kings, and discovered several notable artifacts and tombs.
While the name Boden may not be as common today as it once was, it carries a rich history and has been borne by individuals from various walks of life, including clergy, politicians, writers, artists, and scholars.
People
Boden + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Boden as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Boden: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Boden?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,435 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Boden going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 77,284 US residents.
Is Boden a common name?
We classify Boden as "Rare". It ranks above 96.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 4,472 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Boden most popular?
The single biggest year for Boden was 2023, when 344 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Boden is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Boden in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,906 people with the name Boden, or 0.96 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #5,750 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Boden in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Boden?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Boden leans strongly male. 2,872 people counted with this name were male (98.8%), compared with 35 female bearers (1.2%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Boden?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boden is White at 90.1%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (4.5%) and Hispanic (4.0%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Boden most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Boden in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.1% (2,619 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Boden in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Boden a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Boden in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Boden still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Boden in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Boden can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many Americans are named Boden?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.