Find out how popular the last name Boleyn is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Boleyn.
An English habitational surname referring to someone from Boulogne in France.
Boleyn, 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 Boleyn surname is from the 2010 census data.
Boleyn is the 48800th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Boleyn surname appeared 432 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Boleyn.
We can also compare 2010 data for Boleyn 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.
2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
---|---|---|---|
Rank | 48800 | 51024 | -4.46% |
Count | 432 | 384 | 11.76% |
Proportion per 100k | 0.15 | 0.14 | 6.90% |
The surname Boleyn is of English origin, deriving from the village of Boulogne near Caen in Normandy, France. It is believed that the name was brought to England following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The earliest recorded spelling of the name was Bolein in 1165.
The name Boleyn is thought to come from the Old French words "boul" meaning "bole" or "tree trunk" and "eing" meaning "meadow". Thus, it may have originated as a descriptive surname for someone who lived near a meadow with large tree trunks.
There are records of the Boleyn family in Norfolk, England from the 13th century onwards. One of the earliest known members was Geoffrey Boleyn, who was recorded as living in that county in 1239.
The Boleyns rose to prominence in the 16th century, with the most famous member being Anne Boleyn (c.1501-1536), the second wife of King Henry VIII. Her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn (c.1477-1539), was a prominent courtier and diplomat.
Other notable figures with the surname include Anne Boleyn's brother, George Boleyn (c.1504-1536), who was executed alongside his sister on charges of treason and incest. Their paternal grandmother, Lady Elizabeth Boleyn (née Howard), was a member of the powerful Howard family.
Sir William Boleyn (c.1451-1505) was the great-grandfather of Anne Boleyn and served as Lord Mayor of London in 1457. Another William Boleyn (c.1693-1772) was a colonial governor of Massachusetts Bay from 1737 to 1741.
The Boleyn name can also be found in various place names, such as Boleyn Castle in Norfolk, which was the ancestral seat of the family until the 16th century.
We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Boleyn.
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:
For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Boleyn was:
Race/Ethnicity | Percentage | Total Occurrences |
---|---|---|
Non-Hispanic White Only | 96.06% | 415 |
Non-Hispanic Black Only | (S)% | (S) |
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only | (S)% | (S) |
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native | (S)% | (S) |
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races | (S)% | (S) |
Hispanic Origin | 2.08% | 9 |
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 Boleyn has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.
2010 | 2000 | Change (%) | |
---|---|---|---|
White | 96.06% | 98.44% | -2.45% |
Black | (S)% | (S)% | (S)% |
Asian and Pacific Islander | (S)% | (S)% | (S)% |
American Indian and Alaskan Native | (S)% | 0.00% | (S)% |
Two or More Races | (S)% | (S)% | (S)% |
Hispanic | 2.08% | (S)% | (S)% |
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 Boleyn was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.
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<a href="http://namecensus.com/last-names/boleyn-surname-popularity/">Boleyn last name popularity, history, and meaning</a>
"Boleyn last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on July 16, 2025. http://namecensus.com/last-names/boleyn-surname-popularity/.
"Boleyn last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/boleyn-surname-popularity/. Accessed 16 July, 2025
Boleyn last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/boleyn-surname-popularity/.
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