Explore the Family Name Borah

The meaning of Borah

1. Americanized form of German Bohrer. 2. Americanized form of Polish or Hungarian Bora. 3. Indian (Assam): from borah, an old Assamese (Ahom) military title, a variant of Barua. 4. Indian (Gujarat): from the name of a Muslim community, a variant of Vohra.

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

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

According to the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Borah saw a slight increase in the first decade of the 21st century. In 2000, it ranked 25,547th and was carried by approximately 908 individuals. By 2010, it had climbed to rank 25,037 with 992 bearers, indicating a 2.0% rise in ranking and a 9.25% increase in count. The proportion per 100,000 people remained steady at 0.34 in both years.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#25,547	#25,037	2%
Count	908	992	9.25%
Proportion per 100k	0.34	0.34	0%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Borah

The ethnic identity associated with the Borah surname also experienced changes between 2000 and 2010, as indicated by the Decennial U.S. Census data. The percentage of Asians/Pacific Islanders with this last name grew substantially from 4.52% to 7.76%, a change of 71.68%. During the same period, those identifying as White decreased slightly from 87.33% to 84.98%. The percentage of Hispanics carrying the Borah surname also fell, dropping by 45.99% from 1.87% to 1.01%. The proportion of Borahs who identify as Black declined from 4.30% to 3.33%, a decrease of 22.56%. Interestingly, there was an emergence of the surname among those identifying with two or more races and American Indian and Alaskan Native communities in 2010, where previously in 2000, there were no recorded instances.

	2000	2010	Change
White	87.33%	84.98%	-2.69%
Asian/Pacific Islander	4.52%	7.76%	71.68%
Black	4.3%	3.33%	-22.56%
Two or More Races	0%	2.22%	0%
Hispanic	1.87%	1.01%	-45.99%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0%	0.71%	0%