Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Boston was most popular in 2014, when 562 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,053 that year. In 2025 it ranked #1,159, with 505 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 11,944 people named Boston.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Boston is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 103 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 11,944 American births named Boston between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 11,438 are estimated to be alive today.
505 American babies were named Boston in 2025, ranking #1,159 that year.
Boston is holding steady. Across 2021–2025 it averaged 497 births a year, against 518 a year across 2011–2015 — a change of -4% over the decade.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Boston is mostly a boy’s name — 8.7% of the 11,944 Americans given it were girls and 91.3% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 10% girls and 90% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 11,438 Americans named Boston are alive today — 96% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 12 years old, and half are between 6 and 18. That is a narrow band because Boston is a young name — it only became common recently, so almost everyone carrying it is still a child or a young adult.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Boston on the interactive charts
About · Privacy · Contact
Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org