Boling
An English surname most likely meaning “son of Boling” or linked to a medieval personal name of the same form.
The #4,669 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 40,640 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is recorded in medieval English forms such as Boling and Boiling, which early surname scholars treated as a patronymic: essentially “the son of Boiling/Boling.” In that reading, it belongs with surnames like Harding and Browning, formed from an ancestor’s personal name plus the -ing ending. The exact first name behind it is not certain, but the historical evidence points to an English family-name formation rather than a place-name origin.
History
The surname is documented in medieval England, including examples from the 14th century in county records. Later surname dictionaries continue to list Boling alongside related spellings such as Bolding and Bulling, suggesting a small cluster of old English family names with shifting vowel spelling. Modern bearers are relatively uncommon in the United States compared with many other English surnames.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname writers grouped Boling with names like Harding and Browning because they saw it as a classic patronymic built from a personal name plus -ing.
From the historical record
“petty canon : CanteibBiy Calh. p. 9, Boiling, Boling,— (0 Bapt. 'thesonof Boiling"; cf. Harding, Browning, &c. William Boliynt CO. Soma- 1 Edw, III:”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances