Montana, Brooklyn, London. Is it a kindergarten roster or an atlas? Oh wait, Atlas is in the class, too …
Thanks to Chantal for suggesting her son’s name as our Baby Name of the Day: Boston.
Boston is a big city, and its place in American history is tough to overestimate.
But it wasn’t always so. Once Boston was a dot, originally called Shawmut by the Algonquins. The Puritans arrived there after two unsuccessful attempts to establish settlements elsewhere in the New World. William Blackstone beat them there by about seven years, so the area wasn’t completely uncharted on their arrival.
Boston flourished, and it has remained the center of New England ever since. Benjamin Franklin was born there; the Declaration of Independence was first read from the steps of Boston’s Old State House. It’s the home of Harvard and the Kennedy clan. And then there’s the time they dumped the tea in the harbor …
But our Beantown isn’t the only Boston. It’s not even the first. That honor belongs to a town on England’s east coast. Visit Boston in Lincolnshire and you’ll inevitably see St. Botolph’s Church. The church’s tower makes it the tallest parish church in all of England.
There’s good reason for the towering tower. Botolph – or Botwulf or Botulf – likely lived in the seventh century. Travel was perilous under the best of circumstances. Botolph is the patron saint of travelers; it is believed that the tower would’ve been lit by night, and was certainly a useful landmark by day. Four London churches, all near gates in the City walls, were dedicated to St. Botolph. Some of them are still standing, though they’re now all well within the City limits.
The name Botolph attached to the town where he founded a monastery, and over the years Botolph’s town contracted to Boston. The saint’s name remains present in Boston, Massachusetts, home to the elite St. Botolph’s Club, as well as a street and a hotel.
Botwulf likely comes from the Germanic element wolf paired with another element, but that’s subject to debate. It’s also possible that more than one Bo- name attached to ton/town or ston/stone evolved to Boston over the years.
As a given name, Boston fits right in with choices like Mason and Landon. There is one famous Boston – the man who shot John Wilkes Booth, Abraham Lincoln’s assassin. Only Boston Corbett was born Thomas – and while his actions could make Boston something of hero name, Corbett was, by most accounts, none too stable himself.
Place names can be great alternatives for parents seeking the unusual-but-familiar. Overall, Boston sounds current and on trend, but isn’t shared by too many boys – yet. He’s been in the US Top 1000 since 2004, and ranked #545 last year.
Name your son Boston today and all of that is history. People might think of the Red Sox, or the Celtics, and possibly the classic rock band known for their string of 1970s and 80s hits. As long as your name isn’t Amanda, that’s not a big deal.
You didn’t mention the most recent victors, the Bruins. 🙂
Place names are growing on me.
I’m pretty sure I remember spotting a toddler Boston a year or so ago at our local (Wisconsin) library. It’s not really my style of name, but the more I heard the Mom call her son’s name, it did sound cute and ‘like a normal name’.
I had no idea Boston was so popular on the name charts! When you give a name’s ranking, maybe you could list the names before and after, just to provide some context. Or, you could list the girl’s name with the same ranking. Just an idea…
I grew up with a classmate named Dallas (1st through 12th grades), and our hometown is only about 75 miles from Dallas, TX. Yes, it was funny the first time I met him at age 6, but then it just became his name. Take it from someone with a word name, people are very quickly able to disassociate the meaning from the person in everyday use.
I thought there was a recent celebrity baby named Boston, but the only one I found is Kurt Russell’s son with Season Hubley and he was born in 1980.
I live in a fly-over state and honestly it makes me think of Boston Rob, but Boston feels more name-like than Bristol, Memphis or Albany. There was a Boston who played little league with my nephew and I kept mishearing his name as Austin… so in my mind it feels interchangeable with Austin. It’s not a name I’d pick for my own son, but it’s a crisper and snappier alternative to Austin or Jackson.
Ironically, my husband wanted to name our son Austin. I liked the sound and feel of Boston better, and convinced him of it. Now I couldn’t imagine him being anything else.
I also went to school with a boy named Dallas like someone mentioned and we weren’t far from Dallas. It wasn’t weird at all.
Being a girl born and raised outside NYC, Boston would never fly in our family. 😉 Beyond that, I’m just not a general fan of places names because they seem so… limiting in a way. When a name can work in a certain geographical area, but not another, it makes me take pause. And yes, yes, of course some place names are originally based in real names, blah blah blah… but there is a point when SOME place names are primarily associated with a city/place, and less-so a name.
I do have a college friend (from MA) that was nicknamed Boston (once in school), and in that way it was a fun name that suited her. But it was only a nickname.
Boston has long been a secret favorite of mine, so I’m glad to see it today! I’m generally not a fan of place names and I’d never use this: I like to travel and expect my children will too, so I don’t want to put them in the awkward position of someday living close to a city with their names. but oh, I love the buttoned-down feel of it!
I also live less than an hour away from Bawston, and I am a Red Sox fan. It would seem strange to me to name a kid after the city. I loathe travelling into Boston, and much prefer to go to the Manchester airport. Also, I frequently make fun of Bostonian accent (I’m smaht, I pahked my cah in Dovah).
I like Boston as a name — but then again, I don’t live there. For those considering other options to pass on their Beantown pride, there’s always Fenway — a name at least 5 boys received in 2010, if the records are correct.
I spent some time researching Botolf for my book. True, usually, the name is assumed to be German – or Slavonic – in origin, and if it is Germanic, the first element may plausbily be cognate with the Old Norse b
While I have no problem with Boston as a name for someone in Iowa or Nevada, it wouldn’t fly in my neighborhood. We live less than an hour from Boston, MA and it would be too weird. Since I’m originally from the NY area, I can’t even get behind Boston as a city overmuch. And driving in Boston is a minor nightmare for me. If I have to go in, either He drives or I take the train!
Boston as a word has a snappy sound and a rather starchy feel. I can easily see the appeal. 😀
I think that’s something like Brooklyn, Lola – maybe in Nevada, but never in New York!