Explore the Family Name Boese

The meaning of Boese

German (mainly Böse): from Middle High German bœse, bōse ‘bad, evil; worthless’, later ‘furious, angry’, possibly a nickname for someone with angry or grim looks. Compare Bose. Some characteristic forenames: German Klaus, Erna, Erwin, Frieda, Inge, Kurt, Otto.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Boese in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Boese experienced a slight dip in popularity between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, it ranked 10,757 and dropped to 11,578 by 2010, marking a decrease of approximately 7.63%. The count also declined marginally from 2,722 in 2000 to 2,715 in 2010, which indicates a 0.26% reduction. Consequently, the proportion per 100,000 individuals declined by 8.91%, from 1.01 in 2000 to 0.92 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#10,757	#11,578	-7.63%
Count	2,722	2,715	-0.26%
Proportion per 100k	1.01	0.92	-8.91%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Boese

In terms of ethnicity, the data from the Decennial U.S. Census shows an increase in the representation of the Boese surname among Asian/Pacific Islanders and those belonging to two or more races. Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of Asian/Pacific Islanders increased by 60%, while the figure for those of mixed ethnicity grew by 51.14%. The majority of people with the Boese surname are white, though their representation slightly decreased over the same period, down 0.85%. Meanwhile, the Hispanic population with this surname saw a small growth of 5.19%. Interestingly, the proportions of Black and American Indian and Alaskan Native groups with this surname were suppressed in the 2010 data for privacy reasons.

	2000	2010	Change
White	96.29%	95.47%	-0.85%
Hispanic	1.54%	1.62%	5.19%
Two or More Races	0.88%	1.33%	51.14%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.55%	0.88%	60%
Black	0.37%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.37%	0%	0%