How common is the surname Boswell?

22,540 people in the United States had the surname Boswell in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,698 Americans. It ranked 1,591st of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Boswell?

Ian Boswell, American racing cyclist, followed by John Boswell.

Where is the surname Boswell most common?

Wikidata records people named Boswell in the United States.

How do you pronounce Boswell?

Boswell is /ˈbɑzˌwɛl/, 2 syllables.

Is the surname Boswell getting more or less common?

More common. 21,927 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 22,540 in 2010, up 2.8%.

The surname Boswell

A French place surname, carried by 22,540 people in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈbɑzˌwɛl/ 2 syllables Soundex B240

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Boswell is more common than 99% of them.

Origin

French origin

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

Boswell is a place surname: taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.

One of 791 French surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 22,540 people named Boswell in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 13,698 Americans. That is up 2.8% since 2000, when the Census counted 21,927.

#1,591

rank among US surnames

22,540

people in 2010

7.6

per 100,000 Americans

+2.8%

change since 2000 (was #1,493)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#1,582	Yeager	22,634	13,641
#1,583	Godwin	22,628	13,644
#1,584	Sprague	22,610	13,655
#1,585	Rosen	22,596	13,664
#1,586	Quintanilla	22,581	13,673
#1,587	Otto	22,558	13,687
#1,588	Billings	22,553	13,690

Who is named Boswell

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

77% of people named Boswell identified as white (not Hispanic), 16% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.4% as two or more races.

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

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Boswells

6 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Ian Boswell
American racing cyclist, born 1991
John Boswell
American historian, 1947–1994
Bobby Boswell
American soccer player (born 1983)
Leonard Boswell
American politician (1934-2018)
Tom Boswell
American basketball player, born 1953
Chris Boswell
American football player (born 1991)

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Boswell

Boswell has the Soundex code B240, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code B240.

Other French surnames

All 791 French surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Boswell come from?: Scottish surname, from Norman, named after Beuzeville, from Beuze + -ville ("Bosi's farm"); first element from Old Norse Bosi, from Proto-Germanic *bausuz.
How common is the surname Boswell?: 22,540 people in the United States had the surname Boswell in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 13,698 Americans. It ranked 1,591st of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Boswell?: In the 2010 Census, 77% of people named Boswell identified as white (not Hispanic), and 16% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Boswell?: Ian Boswell, American racing cyclist, followed by John Boswell.
Where is the surname Boswell most common?: Wikidata records people named Boswell in the United States.
How do you pronounce Boswell?: Boswell is /ˈbɑzˌwɛl/, 2 syllables.
What type of surname is Boswell?: Boswell is a place surname, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from.
Is the surname Boswell getting more or less common?: More common. 21,927 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 22,540 in 2010, up 2.8%.