Boe
Unusual English name of undetermined origin and meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 1,042 living Americans carry the first name Boe. It is a predominantly male name (97.9% of registrations). The average person named Boe today is around 22 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Boe births was 2021 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Boe. 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 Boe with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 328,939 Americans
Peak year
2021
42 babies that year
Average age
22
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,522
Tracked since 1971
Census
Boe in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,248 people with the first name Boe, which placed it at #10,597 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
#10,597
National first-name rank
People counted
1.2K
1,248 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
66.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Boe
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boe is White at 66.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.4%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Boe 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 Boe at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White66.1% · 825
- Asian and Pacific Islander20.4% · 255
- Hispanic or Latino4.9% · 61
- Black or African American3.7% · 46
- Two or more races3.3% · 41
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.6% · 20
Gender
Gender distribution for Boe
Boe leans heavily male at 97.9% of total registrations, but 22 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Boe as a male name
- Ranked #3,522 in 2024
- 32 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2015 (40 births)
Boe as a female name
- Ranked #15,688 in 2022
- 5 female births in 2022
- Peak: 2013 (7 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Boe leans strongly male. 1,066 people counted with this name were male (85.3%), compared with 183 female bearers (14.7%).
Popularity
Boe: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Boe from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 349 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Boe remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Boe 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 Boe during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Boes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 3 states and territories. Ohio, Minnesota, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Boe, while Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 9 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Boe
The name Boe is believed to have its origins in the Old Norse language, which was spoken by the Germanic peoples of Scandinavia during the Viking Age, around the 8th to 11th centuries. It is thought to be derived from the Old Norse word "bóandi," meaning "dweller" or "inhabitant."
One of the earliest known references to the name Boe can be found in the Icelandic sagas, which are prose narratives that were written in the 13th and 14th centuries. These sagas often featured characters with names derived from Old Norse words, and it is likely that the name Boe appeared in some of these texts.
The name Boe was not uncommon among the Vikings and other Norse peoples, as it reflected their connection to the land and their identity as settlers or inhabitants of a particular region. Over time, the name spread to other parts of Europe and the world as the Vikings and other Norse peoples migrated and settled in new areas.
One notable historical figure who bore the name Boe was Boe Biörn Ironside, a legendary Viking warrior who lived in the late 10th century. According to Norse sagas, Boe Biörn was known for his incredible strength and bravery in battle, and he played a pivotal role in many of the Vikings' conquests and explorations.
Another famous bearer of the name Boe was Boe Finnsson, a Norwegian explorer who lived in the 12th century. Boe Finnsson is credited with being one of the first Europeans to reach Greenland and establish a settlement there, paving the way for future Norse colonization of the region.
In the 15th century, there was a Dutch artist named Boe Hendricksen who was renowned for his intricate woodcarvings and sculptures. Boe Hendricksen's work can still be seen in various churches and museums throughout the Netherlands and other parts of Europe.
Boe Sigurdsson was a prominent Icelandic chieftain and lawspeaker in the 10th century. He played a significant role in the establishment of the Althing, which was one of the world's oldest surviving parliamentary institutions and an important part of Iceland's cultural and political history.
Finally, Boe Svensson was a Swedish explorer and cartographer who lived in the 17th century. He is best known for his detailed maps of the Arctic regions, which were instrumental in facilitating further exploration and trade in those areas.
People
Boe + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Boe 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
Boe: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Boe?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,042 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Boe 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 328,939 US residents.
Is Boe a common name?
We classify Boe as "Rare". It ranks above 90.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,065 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Boe most popular?
The single biggest year for Boe was 2021, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Boe is about 22 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Boe in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,248 people with the name Boe, or 0.41 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,597 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 Boe 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 Boe?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Boe leans strongly male. 1,066 people counted with this name were male (85.3%), compared with 183 female bearers (14.7%). 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 Boe?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boe is White at 66.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (20.4%) and Hispanic (4.9%). 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 Boe most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Boe in the 2020 Census, accounting for 66.1% (825 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 Boe in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Boe a male name?
Yes, 97.9% of people registered as Boe 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 Boe still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Boe 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 Boe 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 Boe?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.