Given name & surname
Boswell
“from the spring near the forest”
Boswell is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “from the spring near the forest.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One English interpretation is “from the spring near the forest.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
How it developed
From Old Norse Bosi, from Proto-Germanic *bausuz, built from Norman Beuze + -ville.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1915. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Boswell through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 5
- 5 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1915
- 5 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 1915. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 21,336 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Boswell’s family of names
Boswell has a related form in Boswel. Boswell has a related form in Boswele. Boswell has a related form in Boswelle.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 3
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Boswell
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Boswell, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Mansfield
“from the field near the small river”
>99% boys
Holmes
“from the river island”
>99% boys
Harwood
“from the hare's forest”
>99% boys
Morley
“woman from the moor” · “from the meadow on the moor”
92% boys · 8% girls
Sherwood
“from the bright forest”
>99% boys
Glade
“from the meadow in the C woods” · “from the clearing in the woods”
>99% boys
Stockwell
“from the spring near the tree stumps”
>99% boys
Dynell
“a man of the sea”
91% boys · 9% girls