Boy
Masculine name of Old English origin meaning "servant" or "attendant".
Name Census estimates that about 848 living Americans carry the first name Boy. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Boy today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Boy births was 2019 (42 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Boy. 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
848
~ 1 in 404,191 Americans
Peak year
2019
42 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,436
Tracked since 1900
Census
Boy in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 18,099 people with the first name Boy, which placed it at #1,708 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
#1,708
National first-name rank
People counted
18K
18,099 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
49.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Boy
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boy is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.4%) and Black (16.1%). 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 Boy 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 Boy at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White49.2% · 8,902
- Hispanic or Latino26.4% · 4,775
- Black or African American16.1% · 2,906
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.5% · 812
- Two or more races2.4% · 434
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 270
Popularity
Boy: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Boy from the 1900s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 263 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Boy remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Boy 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 Boy during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Boys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 10 states and territories. Texas, North Dakota, Ohio recorded the most babies named Boy, while Maryland, Colorado, Pennsylvania recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 31 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Boy
The given name Boy has its origins in the Middle Dutch language, specifically in the region of the Netherlands during the late medieval period. It is believed to have derived from the Old Dutch word "boie," which was a term used to refer to a young male servant or attendant.
In the 15th and 16th centuries, the name Boy was commonly used as a nickname or diminutive form of longer names such as Boydewijn or Boudewijn, which were Dutch variations of the Germanic name Baldwin. This name gained popularity among the Dutch aristocracy and merchant classes during this time.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Boy can be found in the Chronicles of Holland, a historical text dating back to the 13th century. The text mentions a nobleman named Boy van Heukelom, who lived during the late 12th century and played a role in the political affairs of the County of Holland.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Boy. One such figure was Boy Ecury, a Dutch painter and engraver who lived from 1579 to 1665 and was renowned for his landscapes and cityscapes depicting scenes from the Netherlands.
Another famous bearer of the name was Boy Lornsen, a Dutch naval officer and explorer who was born in 1716. He is best known for his expeditions to the East Indies and his contributions to the Dutch East India Company's maritime activities in the 18th century.
In the 19th century, Boy Houwens Eckhout, a Dutch artist born in 1610, gained recognition for his vibrant and detailed depictions of Brazilian flora and fauna. His works, which were created during his time in the Dutch colony of Brazil, are highly regarded for their artistic and historical value.
Moving into the 20th century, Boy Ecury Jr., born in 1897, followed in his grandfather's footsteps as a renowned Dutch painter, known for his landscapes and still life works. His artistic career spanned several decades and earned him recognition both nationally and internationally.
While the name Boy was primarily used in the Netherlands and within Dutch communities, it has also been adopted in other cultures and regions over time, though its usage has been relatively uncommon compared to more traditional given names.
People
Boy + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Boy 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
Boy: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Boy?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 848 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Boy 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 404,191 US residents.
Is Boy a common name?
We classify Boy as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 898 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Boy most popular?
The single biggest year for Boy was 2019, when 42 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Boy is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Boy in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 18,099 people with the name Boy, or 5.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,708 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 Boy 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 Boy?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Boy appears almost entirely male. Of the 18,094 people counted with this name, 99.3% 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 Boy?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Boy is White at 49.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (26.4%) and Black (16.1%). 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 Boy most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Boy in the 2020 Census, accounting for 49.2% (8,902 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 Boy in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Boy a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Boy 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 Boy still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Boy 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 Boy 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 Boy?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.