Boen
A Dutch name meaning "resident of a bean field".
Name Census estimates that about 115 living Americans carry the first name Boen. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Boen today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Boen births was 2016 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Boen. 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.
People living today
115
~ 1 in 2,980,473 Americans
Peak year
2016
10 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2023 SSA rank
#8,341
Tracked since 2003
Census
Boen in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 157 people with the first name Boen, which placed it at #44,257 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
#44,257
National first-name rank
People counted
157
157 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
59.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Boen
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boen is White at 59.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.3%) and Two or More Races (8.9%). 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 Boen 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 Boen at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White59.9% · 94
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.3% · 46
- Two or more races8.9% · 14
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 3
Popularity
Boen: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Boen from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 54 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Boen remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Boen 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 Boen during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Boen
The given name Boen has its roots in the Germanic languages, derived from the Old High German word "buan," meaning "to build" or "to dwell." It is believed to have originated during the 6th to 11th centuries in what is now modern-day Germany and the surrounding regions.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Boen can be traced back to the 9th century, when it appeared in the Codex Aureus, an illuminated manuscript containing the Gospels written in the Carolingian minuscule script. The name was mentioned in reference to a local landholder named Boen von Regensburg, who lived in the Bavarian city of Regensburg during the reign of King Louis the German.
Throughout the Middle Ages, the name Boen was relatively uncommon but held a sense of nobility and strength, often associated with builders, craftsmen, and landowners. In the 12th century, a renowned architect named Boen von Köln was credited with designing several notable structures, including the Cologne Cathedral's iconic twin spires.
During the Renaissance period, the name gained some prominence among the intellectual circles of Europe. Boen Habermas, a German philosopher and scholar born in 1492, was known for his groundbreaking work on ethics and moral philosophy. His treatise, "De Virtutibus et Vitiis" (On Virtues and Vices), was widely studied and influential in shaping the moral discourse of the time.
In the 17th century, Boen van Riebeeck, a Dutch navigator and colonial administrator, played a pivotal role in establishing the first European settlement in South Africa. He founded the Cape Colony in 1652 and served as its first governor, laying the foundations for the future development of the region.
Another notable figure bearing the name Boen was Boen von Humboldt, a Prussian polymath born in 1769. He was a renowned naturalist, explorer, and geographer, best known for his extensive travels across the Americas and his groundbreaking work on plant geography and the study of natural phenomena.
While the name Boen has become less common in modern times, it carries a rich historical legacy and a sense of strength, resilience, and achievement. These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne this distinctive name and left their mark on various fields and disciplines.
People
Boen + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Boen 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
Boen: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Boen?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 115 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Boen 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 2,980,473 US residents.
Is Boen a common name?
We classify Boen as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 116 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Boen most popular?
The single biggest year for Boen was 2016, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Boen 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 Boen in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 157 people with the name Boen, or 0.05 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #44,257 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 Boen 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 Boen?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Boen leans strongly male. 153 people counted with this name were male (93.3%), compared with 11 female bearers (6.7%). 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 Boen?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boen is White at 59.9%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.3%) and Two or More Races (8.9%). 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 Boen most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Boen in the 2020 Census, accounting for 59.9% (94 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 Boen in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Boen a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Boen 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 Boen still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Boen 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 Boen 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 are named Boen?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.