Boaz
A Hebrew masculine name meaning "strength" or "swiftness".
Name Census estimates that about 3,163 living Americans carry the first name Boaz. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Boaz today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Boaz births was 2023 (237 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Boaz. 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 Boaz with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Boaz is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 13 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
3.2K
~ 1 in 108,364 Americans
Peak year
2023
237 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,015
Tracked since 1928
Census
Boaz in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 2,263 people with the first name Boaz, which placed it at #6,919 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
#6,919
National first-name rank
People counted
2.3K
2,263 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.7
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
70.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Boaz
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boaz is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Boaz 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 Boaz at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White70.0% · 1,583
- Black or African American10.2% · 230
- Hispanic or Latino6.7% · 151
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.7% · 151
- Two or more races6.4% · 144
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 4
Popularity
Boaz: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Boaz from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,315 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Boaz 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 Boaz during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Boaz' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 29 states and territories. California, Texas, New York recorded the most babies named Boaz, while South Dakota, Montana, Nebraska recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 60 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Boaz
The name Boaz has its roots in the Hebrew language and culture, dating back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew word "בועז" (Bo'az), which means "swiftness" or "strength." The name is believed to have originated in the Middle East, particularly in the region now known as Israel, around the 12th century BC.
The name Boaz first appears in the Old Testament of the Bible, in the Book of Ruth. Boaz was a wealthy landowner from Bethlehem who showed kindness to Ruth, a Moabite woman who had come to live in Israel after the death of her husband. He eventually married her, and their union led to the lineage of King David and, ultimately, Jesus Christ.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Boaz was Boaz the Bethlehemite, who lived during the period of the Judges, around the 11th century BC. He was a wealthy and influential man in Bethlehem and played a significant role in the biblical story of Ruth.
Throughout history, several notable figures have borne the name Boaz. One of the most famous was Boaz de' Benedetti (c. 1420–1500), an Italian Jewish scholar and author who contributed to the revival of Hebrew studies during the Renaissance period.
Another prominent individual with this name was Boaz Vaadia (1951–2021), an Israeli sculptor and artist known for his large-scale public installations and innovative use of various materials, including metal, stone, and glass.
In the 17th century, Boaz Behrens (1610–1689) was a German Lutheran theologian and philosopher who made significant contributions to the field of metaphysics.
During the 19th century, Boaz Bey (1813–1879) was an Ottoman statesman and reformer who played a crucial role in the modernization of the Ottoman Empire.
In the 20th century, Boaz Evron (1922–1995) was an Israeli diplomat and politician who served as the Director-General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and played a crucial role in the Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Boaz
People
Boaz + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Boaz 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
Boaz: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Boaz?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,163 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Boaz 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 108,364 US residents.
Is Boaz a common name?
We classify Boaz as "Rare". It ranks above 95.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 3,204 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Boaz most popular?
The single biggest year for Boaz was 2023, when 237 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Boaz is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Boaz in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 2,263 people with the name Boaz, or 0.75 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #6,919 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 Boaz 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 Boaz?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Boaz appears almost entirely male. Of the 2,271 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Boaz?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boaz is White at 70.0%. The next largest groups are Black (10.2%) and Hispanic (6.7%). 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 Boaz most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Boaz in the 2020 Census, accounting for 70.0% (1,583 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 Boaz in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Boaz a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Boaz 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 Boaz still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Boaz 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 Boaz 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 Boaz?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.