Find out how popular the last name Boddy is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Boddy.

Boddy, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Boddy surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Boddy in America

Boddy is the 13646th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Boddy surname appeared 2,219 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Boddy.

We can also compare 2010 data for Boddy to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Boddy

The surname Boddy is of English origin and is believed to have derived from a nickname for a stout or corpulent person. It is thought to be a diminutive of the Middle English word "bodie," meaning body or trunk.

The earliest recorded instance of the surname Boddy dates back to the late 12th century in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire, where one Robert Bodie is mentioned. This suggests that the name was well-established in Yorkshire by this time.

In the 13th century, the name appeared in various forms such as Bodie, Bodye, and Boddy in records from counties like Oxfordshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire. This indicates that the name had spread to other parts of England by this period.

The Domesday Book, a great survey of England compiled in 1086 by order of William the Conqueror, does not contain any direct references to the surname Boddy. However, it does mention several place names that may have influenced the development of the surname, such as Boddington in Gloucestershire and Bodington in Northamptonshire.

One of the earliest notable individuals with the surname Boddy was Sir Thomas Boddy, a wealthy merchant and Lord Mayor of London in 1538. He played a significant role in the city's governance during the reign of Henry VIII.

In the 17th century, John Boddy (1615-1696) was a prominent English Puritan minister and author who served as a chaplain in the Parliamentary army during the English Civil War.

Another notable figure was William Boddy (1809-1892), an English architect and surveyor who designed numerous churches and public buildings in Yorkshire and the surrounding areas.

The 19th century also saw the birth of Harriet Boddy (1835-1910), a pioneering female archaeologist who conducted excavations and made significant contributions to the understanding of ancient Roman Britain.

More recently, Nigel Boddy (1938-2021) was a renowned English chess player and author, widely recognized for his expertise in chess openings and endgame theory.

While the surname Boddy has its roots in England, it has since spread to other parts of the world through migration and immigration, with notable bearers of the name found in countries such as the United States, Canada, and Australia.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Boddy

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Boddy.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Boddy was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Boddy has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Boddy was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Boddy, please contact us.

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