Boyd
A masculine name of Scottish origin meaning "yellow-haired".
Name Census estimates that about 12,784 living Americans carry the first name Boyd. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Boyd today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Boyd births was 1922 (508 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Boyd. 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 Boyd with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Boyd is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 65 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
13K
~ 1 in 26,811 Americans
Peak year
1922
508 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,207
Tracked since 1880
Census
Boyd in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 12,375 people with the first name Boyd, which placed it at #2,154 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
#2,154
National first-name rank
People counted
12K
12,375 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
4.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
88.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Boyd
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boyd is White at 88.5%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Boyd 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 Boyd at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White88.5% · 10,957
- Black or African American4.7% · 586
- Two or more races3.0% · 370
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 190
- Hispanic or Latino1.3% · 164
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 108
Gender
Gender distribution for Boyd
Out of the 27,670 babies given the name Boyd since 1880, 99.8% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Boyd as a male name
- Ranked #2,207 in 2024
- 65 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (508 births)
Boyd as a female name
- Ranked #4,637 in 1944
- 5 female births in 1944
- Peak: 1919 (11 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Boyd appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,377 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Boyd: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Boyd from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 4,595 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Boyd 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 Boyd during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Boyds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Texas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Boyd, while District of Columbia, Maine, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 493 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Boyd
The name Boyd is a masculine given name of Scottish origin, derived from the Gaelic word "buidhe" meaning "yellow" or "fair-haired." It likely originated as a nickname for someone with blonde or light-colored hair. The name gained popularity in Scotland during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Boyd can be found in the 14th century, when it was used by members of the Boyd family, a prominent Scottish clan based in Ayrshire. The Boyds were a powerful and influential family, playing a significant role in Scottish history and politics.
In the 15th century, Robert Boyd (c. 1470-1542) was a notable Scottish theologian and ambassador who served as the rector of the University of Glasgow. He was also a tutor to James V, King of Scots.
Another historical figure with the name Boyd was Mark Alexander Boyd (1563-1601), a Scottish scholar and poet who was known for his translations of ancient Greek and Roman texts. He was a professor of Greek at the University of Montpellier in France.
In the 18th century, Robert Boyd (1713-1781) was a Scottish minister and author who wrote several religious works, including "The Substance of Practical Religion" and "The Marrow of True Religion."
Fast-forwarding to the 20th century, Boyd Neel (1905-1981) was a renowned British conductor and founder of the Boyd Neel Orchestra, which specialized in performing contemporary and lesser-known works.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Boyd was Boyd K. Packer (1924-2015), a prominent leader and apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He served as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and was known for his influential teachings on various topics.
While the name Boyd has its roots in Scotland, it has since spread to other parts of the English-speaking world, particularly in the United States, Canada, and other countries with significant Scottish heritage and influence.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Boyd
People
Boyd + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Boyd 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
Boyd: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Boyd?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 12,784 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Boyd 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 26,811 US residents.
Is Boyd a common name?
We classify Boyd as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 27,670 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Boyd most popular?
The single biggest year for Boyd was 1922, when 508 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Boyd is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Boyd in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 12,375 people with the name Boyd, or 4.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,154 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 Boyd 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 Boyd?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Boyd appears almost entirely male. Of the 12,377 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Boyd?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boyd is White at 88.5%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Two or More Races (3.0%). 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 Boyd most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Boyd in the 2020 Census, accounting for 88.5% (10,957 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 Boyd in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Boyd a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Boyd 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 Boyd still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Boyd 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 Boyd 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 people have the name Boyd?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.