# Boswell (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/boswell/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A Scottish habitational surname from Old French of Norman origin from Beuzeville in France.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | French |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 22,540 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,591 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 13,698 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.8% (21,927 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɑzˌwɛl/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

Scottish surname, from Norman, named after Beuzeville, from Beuze + -ville ("Bosi's farm"); first element from Old Norse Bosi, from Proto-Germanic *bausuz.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Boswell in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 77% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 16% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.3% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.4% |
| Two or more races | 2.4% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Boswell in the United States.

## People named Boswell

- Ian Boswell, American racing cyclist
- John Boswell, American historian
- Bobby Boswell, American soccer player (born 1983)
- Leonard Boswell, American politician (1934-2018)
- Tom Boswell, American basketball player
- Chris Boswell, American football player (born 1991)

## Similar surnames

Buswell, Bagwell, Bosley, Bissell, Bussell, Bushell, Beasley, Buckley, Bagley, Bigelow, Begley, Basile.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.