2000
#10,330
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,857
First available Census row
Per 100,000 1.06
Rare Last name
Boll
A German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) occupational surname referring to a person who manufactured or sold round wooden bowls.
According to the 2020 US Census Bureau surname tables, roughly 3,061 Americans carry the last name Boll. That puts it at #11,309 in the national surname ranking, appearing at a frequency of 0.89 per 100,000 people (about 1 in 111,975 residents).
This page is the full Name Census profile for the Boll surname. You will find the Census Bureau frequency data, a multi-census history view, an ancestry and ethnicity breakdown based on self-reported demographics, the name's meaning and origin where available, and answers to the most common questions people ask about this surname.
For British records, Name Census UK has a British surname profile for Boll with 1881 census detail, origin facts and modern UK distribution where available.
Bearers in the US
3.1K
1 in 111,975
Census rank
#11,309
2020 decennial data
Per 100,000
0.9
Frequency rate
Recorded bearers
2.7K
rare in the US
Popularity narrative
The Census Bureau recorded 2,669 bearers of the surname Boll in its 2020 decennial surname file. At a rate of 0.89 per 100,000 residents, it holds the 11309th position in the national surname ranking.
Among Census respondents with the surname Boll, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%).
Origin
Meaning and origin of Boll
The surname Boll originated in Germany during the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old German word "bolle," which means a round loaf of bread or a small hill. This suggests that the name may have initially referred to someone who lived near a round hill or worked as a baker.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Boll can be traced back to the 13th century in various regions of Germany, including Bavaria, Saxony, and the Rhineland. In some areas, the name was also spelled as "Bole" or "Bolle."
One of the earliest documented references to the name Boll can be found in the Codex Diplomaticus Saxoniae Regiae, a collection of medieval charters and documents from Saxony, where a certain "Henricus Boll" is mentioned in a record dated 1286.
In the 14th century, the name appeared in the town records of Nuremberg, where a "Hans Boll" is listed as a resident in 1357. This suggests that the name was well-established in urban centers of Germany by this time.
A notable historical figure with the surname Boll was Johann Christian Boll (1776-1848), a German botanist and naturalist who made significant contributions to the study of plant life in the Rhineland region.
Another prominent individual was the German writer and Nobel Prize laureate, Heinrich Boll (1917-1985), whose works explored the moral and ethical dilemmas of post-World War II Germany.
In the 16th century, the name Boll can be found in various historical records from the city of Cologne, where it was sometimes associated with the occupation of baking or milling.
Other notable individuals with the surname Boll include Johann Boll (1590-1669), a German composer and organist from Braunschweig, and Franz Boll (1867-1924), a German classical philologist and scholar of ancient Greek literature.
The name Boll has also been linked to several place names in Germany, such as Bollberg (meaning "Boll's hill") and Bollschweil (meaning "Boll's village"), further reinforcing its geographical origins.
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Boll
Among Census respondents with the surname Boll, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%).
The bar chart below shows how Boll bearers 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 surname, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown for every Census year so the breakdown stays comparable over time. When the source file also includes raw headcounts, Name Census shows those alongside the percentages in the legend.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A person's surname does not determine their race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the Boll surname at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White92.4% · 2,467
- Two or more races2.8% · 74
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 52
- Black or African American1.4% · 38
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 34
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 4
Timeline
Historical Census data for Boll
Boll appears in 3 published Census surname files: 2000, 2010, 2020. The cards below show how the name's rank and bearer count changed across each release.
2010
#10,993
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,893
+36 bearers (+1.3%)
Per 100,000 0.98
Rank movement Down 663 places
2020
#11,309
National surname rank
Recorded bearers 2,669
-224 bearers (-7.7%)
Per 100,000 0.89
Rank movement Down 316 places
| Year | Rank | Count | Per 100K | Count change | Rank change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | #10,330 | 2,857 | 1.06 | First available Census row | First available Census row |
| 2010 | #10,993 | 2,893 | 0.98 | +36 bearers (+1.3%) | Down 663 places |
| 2020 | #11,309 | 2,669 | 0.89 | -224 bearers (-7.7%) | Down 316 places |
For 2020, the Census Bureau published race and Hispanic-origin columns as counts rather than percentages. Name Census converts those counts back into shares so the ancestry section stays comparable with the older surname files.
Year on year
2010 vs 2020 Census
How has the Boll surname changed between Census years? The chart shows bearer count side by side, and the table compares rank, count, and frequency.
Census year comparison
20102020
| Metric | 2010 | 2020 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | #10,993 | #11,309 | -2.9% |
| Count | 2,893 | 2,669 | -7.7% |
| Per 100K | 0.98 | 0.89 | -8.9% |
Between the 2010 and 2020 Census, the number of Boll bearers went from 2,893 to 2,669 (-7.7% change). The surname moved down 316 positions in the national ranking, going from #10,993 to #11,309.
Notable bearers
Famous people with the surname Boll
FAQ
Boll surname: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. have the surname Boll?
Name Census estimates that about 3,061 living Americans carry the surname Boll. Using the current population baseline, that works out to roughly 1 in 111,975 residents.
How common is Boll?
Boll ranks #11,309 in the 2020 Census surname tables and is classified on this site as "Rare." The Census recorded the name at a frequency of 0.89 per 100,000 residents, which is about 1 people out of every 100,000.
How many people with this surname were counted in the Census?
The raw 2020 Census file counted 2,669 people with the surname Boll. That is different from the site's living-bearer estimate (3,061), which projects the surname's present-day count by applying the Census frequency rate to the current U.S. population.
What does 0.89 per 100,000 actually mean?
It is the Census Bureau's normalized frequency measure. A rate of 0.89 per 100,000 means that if you picked a random group of 100,000 U.S. residents, you would expect about 1 of them to have the surname Boll.
Has Boll become more or less common over time?
Between 2010 and 2020, the surname Boll went from 2,893 recorded bearers to 2,669. That is a decrease of 224 (-7.7%). In the national ranking it fell from #10,993 to #11,309.
What does the Census say about the background of Boll?
Among Census respondents with the surname Boll, the largest self-reported group is White at 92.4%. The next largest groups are Two or More Races (2.8%) and Hispanic (1.9%). These figures come from the 2020 Census Bureau surname tables, based on how respondents described their own race and ethnicity.
Which group reports this surname most often?
White is the largest self-reported group for the surname Boll in the 2020 Census, accounting for 92.4% (2,467 people in the source table).
What is the full ancestry breakdown?
Boll appears across multiple self-reported groups in the Census data. The largest shares in the 2020 file are White (92.4%), Two or More Races (2.8%), Hispanic (1.9%). For 2020, the source file also published raw headcounts for each group, which is why this page can show both percentages and counts in the ancestry section.
Is this page using the latest Census data?
Yes. This page is using the latest surname file currently loaded on Name Census, which is 2020. The historical section above also keeps any older Census surname entries we have for Boll (2000, 2010, 2020).
Does the Census include every surname?
No. The Census Bureau only publishes surnames that appeared at least 100 times in a given decennial Census. That means very rare surnames are excluded entirely, and a surname can appear in one Census release but disappear from a later one if it falls below the reporting threshold.
Why don't the ancestry percentages always add up to exactly 100%?
There are two main reasons: rounding and suppression. The Census Bureau rounds published values, and it may suppress very small cells to protect privacy. For 2020, the Bureau also published raw group counts rather than direct percentages, so Name Census converts those counts back into shares for comparability across census years.
What does Boll mean?
A German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) occupational surname referring to a person who manufactured or sold round wooden bowls. The fuller origin note on this page goes into more detail.
Where does the surname data come from?
All surname statistics on Name Census are drawn from the US Census Bureau's decennial surname frequency tables. These files list every surname that appeared 100 or more times in the 2020 Census, along with a count, a per-100,000 rate, and a self-reported demographic breakdown. You can read the full explanation on our methodology page.
How does Name Census estimate living bearers?
For surnames, Name Census does not age cohorts the way it does for first names. Instead, it takes the Census Bureau's published frequency for Boll (0.89 per 100,000) and applies that rate to the current U.S. resident population to estimate how many living Americans have the surname today.
How many people are called Boll?
If you just want to know how common the surname Boll is, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.