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Boy Family History

Boy Surname Meaning

English: from the Middle English personal name Boie which may be from ancient Germanic Boio (see Boye 1 and ) or an Old English Boia. The latter is common as a first element in English placenames and is difficult to tell apart from the ordinary word boy to which it may be related.

English: from Middle English boy ‘young man servant’ also ‘knave’ or ‘rogue’. Compare Ladd. Scottish and Irish: variant of Bowie.

German: variant of Boye. Germanized form of Sorbian Boj: from a short form of a Slavic personal name containing the element boj ‘fight’ such as Bojsław.

French: variant of Bois.

Americanized form of Croatian and Slovenian Boj: probably from a short form of a Slavic personal name containing the element boj ‘fight’ (compare 5 above). Burmese: apparently a variant of Bo 5.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022


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Where is the Boy family from?

You can see how Boy families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Boy family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Boy families were found in USA in 1920. In 1911 there were 163 Boy families living in Quebec. This was about 60% of all the recorded Boy's in Canada. Quebec had the highest population of Boy families in 1911.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Boy surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.
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What did your Boy ancestors do for a living?

In 1921, Farmer and Rentire were the top reported jobs for men and women in the Canada named Boy. 28% of Boy men worked as a Farmer and 100% of Boy women worked as a Rentire.

View Census Data for Boy | Data not to scale

*We display top occupations by gender to maintain their historical accuracy during times when men and women often performed different jobs.

Top Male Occupations In 1921

  • Farmer
    28%
  • Laborer
    22%
  • Cultivateur
    16%
  • Labourer
    10%

Top Female Occupations In 1921

  • Rentire
    100%

What Boy family records will you find?

Census Records

There are 26,000 census records available for the last name Boy. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Boy census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

Search Canadian census records for Boy

Passenger Lists

There are 3,000 immigration records available for the last name Boy. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in Canada, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

View all Boy immigration records

Draft Cards

There are 19,000 military records available for the last name Boy. For the veterans among your Boy ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

View all Boy military records

You've only scratched the surface of Boy family history

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What is the average Boy lifespan?

Between 1951 and 2004, in the United States, Boy life expectancy was at its lowest point in 1958, and highest in 2000. The average life expectancy for Boy in 1951 was 54, and 81 in 2004.

View Social Security Death Index (SSDI) for Boy

An unusually short lifespan might indicate that your Boy ancestors lived in harsh conditions. A short lifespan might also indicate health problems that were once prevalent in your family. The SSDI is a searchable database of more than 70 million names. You can find birthdates, death dates, addresses and more.

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