Bosten
A masculine name of uncertain origin, possibly Scandinavian, with an unknown meaning.
Name Census estimates that about 102 living Americans carry the first name Bosten. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bosten today is around 15 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bosten births was 2008 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bosten. 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
102
~ 1 in 3,360,337 Americans
Peak year
2008
17 babies that year
Average age
15
years old
2020 SSA rank
#10,780
Tracked since 2002
Popularity
Bosten: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bosten 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 51 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bosten 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 Bosten 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 Bosten
The given name Bosten is of uncertain origin, with no clear consensus among scholars regarding its linguistic roots or cultural background. Some linguists have proposed that it may be a variant or corruption of the Germanic name Bodstein or Bodestein, which itself is derived from the Old High German words "bodo" (meaning messenger) and "stein" (meaning stone).
Others have speculated that Bosten could be a locational name, referring to a place or region where the name originated, but no definitive historical records have been found to support this theory. The earliest known written instances of the name Bosten date back to the late 15th century in various European records and chronicles, though its use appears to have been relatively rare and scattered.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Bosten was a German merchant and explorer named Bosten von Kettler, who was born around 1470 in the city of Hamburg. He is noted for his travels to the Baltic region and his involvement in trade with the Hanseatic League, a influential commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns.
In the 16th century, a Dutch painter and engraver named Bosten van der Werf (born around 1510 in Utrecht) gained recognition for his portraits and religious works, some of which can still be found in museums and churches throughout the Netherlands.
A century later, in the early 1600s, a Swedish military officer named Bosten Åkesson (born around 1590) played a role in the Kalmar War between Sweden and Denmark, serving under the command of King Gustavus Adolphus.
Moving forward to the 18th century, a notable figure with the name Bosten was the French architect and engineer Bosten de Metz (born in 1720 in Metz), who contributed to the design and construction of several notable buildings and fortifications in his native region of Lorraine.
Finally, in the 19th century, a German botanist and naturalist named Bosten Holzmann (born in 1828 in Hannover) gained recognition for his extensive studies and collections of plant specimens from various parts of Europe and Asia.
These are just a few examples of individuals throughout history who bore the name Bosten, though its overall usage and prevalence appear to have been relatively limited compared to many other given names.
People
Bosten + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bosten 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
Bosten: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bosten?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 102 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bosten 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 3,360,337 US residents.
Is Bosten a common name?
We classify Bosten as "Very Rare". It ranks above 64.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 103 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bosten most popular?
The single biggest year for Bosten was 2008, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bosten is about 15 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Bosten in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bosten a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bosten 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 Bosten still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bosten 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 Bosten 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Bosten?
See how many Americans are named Bosten on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.