Explore the Family Name Boness

The meaning of Boness

1. South German: derisive nickname meaning ‘bean-eater’ (from a compound of Middle High German bone ‘bean’ + ezzen ‘to eat’), used to denote a bean-grower or a poor person whose diet consisted mainly of beans. 2. English (Bedfordshire): variant of Bownes. 3. Americanized form of Norwegian Bones 3 and perhaps also of Bønes (see Bones 4).

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

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

According to data from the Decennial U.S. Census, the surname Boness was ranked 67,522 in popularity in the year 2000 and dropped slightly to a rank of 69,170 by the year 2010. This change represents a decrease in ranking by 2.44%. Despite this drop in ranking, the actual count of individuals bearing this surname rose from 273 in 2000 to 284 in 2010, showing an increase of 4.03%. The proportion of individuals with the Boness surname per 100,000 people remained stable at 0.1 during both census years.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#67,522	#69,170	-2.44%
Count	273	284	4.03%
Proportion per 100k	0.1	0.1	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Boness

In terms of ethnic identity, the Decennial U.S. Census data reveals that the largest portion of individuals with the Boness surname identified as White, making up 93.77% in 2000 and increasing to 96.83% by 2010. There were no recorded individuals identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander, Two or more races, or Black in either census year for this surname. A small percentage identified as Hispanic (1.83%) in 2000, but this figure dropped to zero by 2010. Those identifying as American Indian and Alaskan Native also decreased from 3.66% in 2000 to 2.46% by 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
White	93.77%	96.83%	3.26%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	3.66%	2.46%	-32.79%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Two or More Races	0%	0%	0%
Hispanic	1.83%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%