Boleyn last name popularity, history, and meaning

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.

Meaning of 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.

Popularity of Boleyn in America

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 history of the last name Boleyn

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.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Boleyn

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:

  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 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)%

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 Boleyn was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!

"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/.

Search for a name

Search for a first or last name to learn more about its origin, meaning, and more.

Simple as that.