Boss
Boss was given to 7 boys in 2025, #9,845 among boys’ names; 451 Americans have been recorded with it since 1881 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Boss by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
How popular is Boss?
#9,845 among boys’ names, 2025
Boss fell from #8,119 in 2015 to #9,845 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 4.7 to 4.1 per million.
16 babies in 2018, the peak
Boss peaked in 2018, when 16 boys were given it, #5,573 among boys’ names. The 7 births of 2025 are 44% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 7 | #9,845 | under 0.01 |
| 2024 | 8 | #9,101 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 10 | #7,807 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 12 | #6,877 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 13 | #6,367 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 15 | #5,736 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 14 | #6,138 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 16 | #5,573 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 10 | #7,638 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 14 | #6,079 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (53)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 9 | #8,119 | under 0.01 |
| 2014 | 12 | #6,683 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 12 | #6,647 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 14 | #6,030 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 14 | #5,976 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 8 | #8,903 | under 0.01 |
| 2009 | 10 | #7,751 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 8 | #9,094 | under 0.01 |
| 2007 | 5 | #12,593 | under 0.01 |
| 2006 | 5 | #12,260 | under 0.01 |
| 1949 | 5 | #3,743 | under 0.01 |
| 1932 | 6 | #3,407 | 0.01 |
| 1929 | 5 | #4,025 | under 0.01 |
| 1924 | 12 | #2,489 | 0.01 |
| 1922 | 5 | #4,376 | under 0.01 |
| 1921 | 11 | #2,651 | 0.01 |
| 1920 | 7 | #3,520 | 0.01 |
| 1919 | 7 | #3,437 | 0.01 |
| 1918 | 8 | #3,135 | 0.01 |
| 1917 | 7 | #3,257 | 0.01 |
| 1916 | 5 | #3,966 | 0.01 |
| 1915 | 7 | #3,122 | 0.01 |
| 1913 | 5 | #2,872 | 0.01 |
| 1912 | 6 | #2,307 | 0.01 |
| 1910 | 5 | #1,617 | 0.03 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,110 | 0.05 |
| 1903 | 9 | #792 | 0.08 |
| 1900 | 6 | #1,181 | 0.04 |
| 1898 | 7 | #895 | 0.06 |
| 1897 | 6 | #954 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 5 | #1,120 | 0.04 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,098 | 0.04 |
| 1894 | 13 | #570 | 0.11 |
| 1893 | 10 | #660 | 0.09 |
| 1892 | 9 | #759 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 9 | #650 | 0.09 |
| 1890 | 8 | #750 | 0.07 |
| 1889 | 6 | #888 | 0.05 |
| 1888 | 6 | #930 | 0.05 |
| 1887 | 8 | #694 | 0.08 |
| 1884 | 6 | #863 | 0.05 |
| 1883 | 7 | #731 | 0.07 |
| 1881 | 7 | #715 | 0.07 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Boss a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Boss has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 53 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Boss: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Boss, and how old are they?
An estimated 218 Americans named Boss and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (48% of everyone recorded); the median is 10 years old and half are between 6 and 14. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 545 people named Boss (114 women and girls, 431 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 159 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.4 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
More about Boss and names like it
- The most given names of the 2010sBoss peaked in 2018.
- The top names of 2018The year the most babies were named Boss.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Boss alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with BMost given first.