Bosco
Of Italian origin, a name meaning "small forest" or "woodsy".
Name Census estimates that about 391 living Americans carry the first name Bosco. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bosco today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bosco births was 2022 (31 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bosco. 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 Bosco with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
391
~ 1 in 876,610 Americans
Peak year
2022
31 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,791
Tracked since 1998
Census
Bosco in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 625 people with the first name Bosco, which placed it at #17,576 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
#17,576
National first-name rank
People counted
625
625 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Asian and Pacific Islander
41.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bosco
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bosco is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.8%) and Black (16.6%). 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 Bosco 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 Bosco at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Asian and Pacific Islander41.9% · 262
- Hispanic or Latino24.8% · 155
- Black or African American16.6% · 104
- White14.2% · 89
- Two or more races1.4% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 6
Popularity
Bosco: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bosco from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 203 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Bosco remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bosco 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 Bosco during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Boscos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bosco
The name Bosco originates from the Italian language and is derived from the word "bosco," meaning "woods" or "forest." It is believed to have its roots in the ancient Roman era, when woodlands and forests played a significant role in the lives of people.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Bosco can be traced back to St. John Bosco, an Italian Catholic priest born in 1815. He dedicated his life to educating and caring for disadvantaged youth, and his teachings and methods of education became widely influential. The name Bosco was likely chosen to reflect his affinity for the simplicity and tranquility of nature.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Bosco. One such person was Boethius Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480-524), a Roman philosopher, and theologian who significantly influenced medieval Christian philosophy. His work, "The Consolation of Philosophy," is considered a masterpiece of its time.
Another prominent figure was Hieronymus Boscus (1470-1516), an Italian physician and botanist who made significant contributions to the study of plants and their medicinal properties. His work, "De Plantis," was an influential botanical text during the Renaissance period.
In the realm of art, Bosco was also the name of the renowned Italian painter and printmaker, Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778). He is best known for his etchings of ancient Roman ruins and architectural fantasies, which helped shape the Neoclassical and Romantic art movements.
Bosco Nedelcovic (1911-1939) was a Serbian author and poet who played a significant role in the development of modern Serbian literature. His works often explored themes of existentialism and the human condition, reflecting the social and political turmoil of the time.
The name Bosco has a rich historical background, rooted in the Italian language and culture. Its connection to nature, philosophy, art, and literature has made it a distinctive and enduring name throughout the centuries.
People
Bosco + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bosco 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
Bosco: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bosco?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 391 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bosco 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 876,610 US residents.
Is Bosco a common name?
We classify Bosco as "Very Rare". It ranks above 82.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 394 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bosco most popular?
The single biggest year for Bosco was 2022, when 31 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bosco is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bosco in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 625 people with the name Bosco, or 0.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #17,576 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 Bosco 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 Bosco?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bosco appears almost entirely male. Of the 628 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 Bosco?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bosco is Asian/Pacific Islander at 41.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (24.8%) and Black (16.6%). 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 Bosco most often in the Census?
Asian/Pacific Islander is the largest reported group for people named Bosco in the 2020 Census, accounting for 41.9% (262 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 Bosco in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bosco a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bosco 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 Bosco still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bosco 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 Bosco 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 share the name Bosco?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.