Boston

maleStatistical record

What official birth registration shows about Boston: which national registrars published it, in which years, and how its recorded position changed.

No researched meaning, origin or pronunciation yet — what that means.

Boston: Recorded since 1997, it reached #398 in 2014, and it stood at #2,443 in 2024.

3registrars recorded it
27times a registrar ranked it
28years from first to last
#398highest recorded position
5groupings it qualifies for

Region

Falling

among boys in England and Wales · 1997–2024

View as table

England and Wales · Boys rank by year
Year	Rank
1997	#2022
1999	#2943
2000	#2501
2002	#2254
2004	#2578
2005	#1851
2007	#4333
2008	#3687
2009	#2837
2010	#2629
2011	#2892
2012	#2721
2013	#3822
2014	#1935
2015	#2150
2016	#2335
2017	#2172
2018	#1610
2019	#1869
2020	#3334
2021	#1448
2022	#2018
2023	#2813
2024	#2443

VerifiedSource: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales.Confidence: high.

See all England and Wales names · Source: Office for National Statistics — Baby Names in England and Wales

What the data shows

FallingEngland and Wales · Boys

Recorded in official data among boys in England and Wales in 24 of the 28 years from 1997 to 2024.

In 2022: #779 among boys in Republic of Ireland, #2018 among boys in England and Wales.

Official data from 3 national registrars across 3 regions, 1997–2024 · Office for National Statistics. Data sources

Popularity journey

First recorded1997
First recorded at #2022 among boys in England and Wales in 1997 — the earliest year that source publishes this name, not necessarily the earliest it was used.
England and Wales · Boys
Most recent2024
Most recently recorded at #2443 among boys in England and Wales, in 2024.
England and Wales · Boys

Boston appears in 2 of the published lists Namewise holds. The longest record is England and Wales · Boys, which has ranked it in 24 years beginning in 1997, and has registered 184 births with the name.

Boston across 2 official records

Each registrar publishes its own list, so these figures are read down a row, never across one. A position in one country is not comparable with a position in another, and Namewise never combines them into a single ranking. The birth counts do not compare across rows either, for a different reason: England and Wales registers roughly thirty times as many births a year as Northern Ireland, so a larger total says which registrar recorded it as much as how widely the name was given.

Boston's first, highest and most recent recorded position in each official list, with the number of births each registrar registered with the name and its largest single year
Published list	First recorded	Highest	Most recent	Years recorded	Births registered	Most in one year
England and Wales · Boys	#2022 (1997)	#1448 (2021)	#2443 (2024)	24 of 28	184 (1997–2024)	17 (2021)
Republic of Ireland · Boys	#646 (2019)	#646 (2019)	#779 (2022)	2 of 4	7 (2019–2022)	4 (2019)

Boston by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Births registered with the name in each decade of this one list, with the number of years the list covers in that decade. Bars are scaled on births a year, which is the figure that compares between decades — a decade the list only partly covers has a smaller total without being a quieter decade. Figures belong to this registrar alone and do not carry to another.

Births registered with Boston in England and Wales · Boys, by decade, with years covered and the average per year
Decade	Births registered	Years covered	A year
1990s	8	2 of 10	4
2000s	36	7 of 10	5
2010s	91	10 of 10	9
2020sbusiest	49	5 of 10	10

Across England and Wales · Boys, the 2020s were its busiest decade — the 5 years of it this list covers, averaging 10 births a year.

See the names England and Waleshas recorded the most births with →

Boston appears in

Groupings this name qualifies for under their own stated rules, from the same official statistics shown above.

Popularity data

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1997 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #398 in Northern Ireland in 2014.

Boston's recorded popularity observations by year, region and administrative category, including rank, registered births, source confidence and when each region's data was last reviewed.
Year	Region	Category	Rank	Births registered	Confidence	Status
2024	England and Wales	male	#2443	9	High	Verified
2023	England and Wales	male	#2813	7	High	Verified
2022	England and Wales	male	#2018	11	High	Verified
2021	England and Wales	male	#1448	17	High	Verified
2020	England and Wales	male	#3334	5	High	Verified
2019	England and Wales	male	#1869	12	High	Verified
2018	England and Wales	male	#1610	15	High	Verified
2017	England and Wales	male	#2172	10	High	Verified
2016	England and Wales	male	#2335	9	High	Verified
2015	England and Wales	male	#2150	10	High	Verified
2014	England and Wales	male	#1935	11	High	Verified
2013	England and Wales	male	#3822	4	High	Verified
2012	England and Wales	male	#2721	7	High	Verified
2011	England and Wales	male	#2892	6	High	Verified
2010	England and Wales	male	#2629	7	High	Verified
2009	England and Wales	male	#2837	6	High	Verified
2008	England and Wales	male	#3687	4	High	Verified
2007	England and Wales	male	#4333	3	High	Verified
2005	England and Wales	male	#1851	9	High	Verified
2004	England and Wales	male	#2578	5	High	Verified
2002	England and Wales	male	#2254	5	High	Verified
2000	England and Wales	male	#2501	4	High	Verified
1999	England and Wales	male	#2943	3	High	Verified
1997	England and Wales	male	#2022	5	High	Verified
2014	Northern Ireland	male	#398	3	High	Verified
2022	Republic of Ireland	male	#779	3	High	Verified
2019	Republic of Ireland	male	#646	4	High	Verified

England and Wales hub — collected by Office for National Statistics
Northern Ireland hub — collected by NISRA
Republic of Ireland hub — collected by CSO Ireland

See methodology and data sources for how popularity data is collected and what "confidence" means.

What the record shows

Recorded by 3 registrars between 1997 and 2024, ranked in 24 years of that period.

Its highest recorded position is #398, first reached in 2014.

Its largest count from any one registrar is 17 births, registered in England and Wales in 2021.

Its record falls into 5 separate stretches, with a longest absence of 1 year.

A second registrar first ranked it in 2014, and 22 years separate the first registrar to record it from the last.

Every figure here is counted from the seven official registrars Namewise holds. A position is only ever a place within the list that published it, and a record that thins or stops is a fact about what registrars printed — never about how many children received the name.

Where to go next

Records with a comparable body of evidence, so the catalogue can be read outward from this one. Each group states the rule it was selected by.

Next in the catalogue

The records either side of this one alphabetically.

Borys · #302, 18y
Bosco · #280, 13y
Botond · #715, 11y
Bow · #1130, 19y

A comparable record

Records held by the same 3 registrars, over a similar number of ranked years, whose highest position is closest to this one. A similar body of evidence — never a claim that the names themselves are alike.

Nevin · #398, 22y
Aahil · #399, 22y
Ayva · #397, 20y
Gabrielius · #397, 20y

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Records whose earliest ranking in Namewise's registrar data also falls between 1990 and 1999.

Allanah · #398, 26y
Arjan · #398, 29y
Cavan · #398, 28y
Daley · #398, 27y

Boston was ranked #398 in Northern Ireland · Boys in 2014. These are the names immediately either side of it on that published list — a fact about the registrar's own output, not a similarity judgement.

Boston and the names beside it

Two names in the same published list are measured on the same scale, in the same year, by the same registrar — so these are positions that genuinely passed each other, not a similarity judgement. Drawn from the 2,573 names with a recorded popularity standing (common, familiar, uncommon), so a name outside that set could have passed Boston without appearing here.

Boston moved ahead of

Brooke Compare
In 2013 they stood at #3822 and #3822 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2014 that had become #1935 and #4632.
Garry Compare
In 2013 they stood at #3822 and #2216 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2014 that had become #1935 and #4632.
Graham Compare
In 2023 they stood at #2813 and #1533 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2024 that had become #2443 and #5119.
Shannon Compare
In 2016 they stood at #3822 and #3822 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2017 that had become #2172 and #4812.

Moved ahead of Boston

Theodor Compare
In 2006 they stood at #1851 and #2418 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2007 that had become #4333 and #1440.
Isak Compare
In 2022 they stood at #2018 and #3449 in England and Wales · Boys; by 2023 that had become #2813 and #1461.
Filip Compare
In 1998 they stood at #2022 and #2337 in England and Wales · Boys; by 1999 that had become #2943 and #1664.
Mathias Compare
In 1998 they stood at #2022 and #2859 in England and Wales · Boys; by 1999 that had become #2943 and #1850.

Moved the same way as Boston

Brooke Compare
Between 1997 and 2020 in England and Wales · Boys, Boston went from #2022 to #3334 and Brooke from #1174 to #4608.
Aksel Compare
Between 2007 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Boston went from #4333 to #2443 and Aksel from #3589 to #1132.
Matheo Compare
Between 2007 and 2024 in England and Wales · Boys, Boston went from #4333 to #2443 and Matheo from #4333 to #1517.

What's not yet available

Meaning
Origin
Pronunciation
Nicknames and spelling variants

Absence from this list does not mean the name isn't genuinely meaningful or widely used — only that Namewise hasn't sourced and reviewed that content yet. Absence from a specific year or geography above does not prove zero use there either; official statistics only publish names above a minimum threshold.

Official popularity data is available for 3 regions, from 1997 to 2024. Highest recorded position: #398 in Northern Ireland in 2014. Source data last verified 2026-07-21.

Boston

Boston at a glance

What the data shows

Popularity journey

Boston across 2 official records

Boston by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Boston appears in

Popularity data

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Boston

Boston and the names beside it

Boston moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Boston

Moved the same way as Boston

Boston at a glance

Boston across 2 official records

Boston by decade in England and Wales · Boys

Boston appears in

What the record shows

Where to go next

Next in the catalogue

A comparable record

Also first recorded in the 1990s

Names published alongside Boston

Boston and the names beside it

Boston moved ahead of

Moved ahead of Boston

Moved the same way as Boston