Where Was the Name?
Every person recorded under the name in the open Irish censuses, county by county, with the spellings they actually used.
Where were people of the name in 1901?
The 1901 census recorded 11,869 people as Boyle or O’Boyle. Of these, 4,460 lived in Donegal: more than one in three. Next came Mayo (1,084) and Antrim (1,078).57
In Donegal about 257 in every 10,000 people bore the name, roughly one in 39. No other county came close: the next, Louth, had 65 per 10,000.57
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Within Donegal the name was densest in the Rosses and Gweedore: Annagary (486 people), Rutland (435), Magheraclogher (336), Maghery (237) and Aran (219) headed the list in 1901.57
Why were there more Irish spellings in 1926?
It does not show that people changed. In 1911 there was no Irish-language census form; anyone writing their name in Irish did so on an English form. The 1926 census was the first that let people fill in their form in Irish.38,37
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Even in 1926 only about 1% of returns were in Irish. In parts of Donegal enumerators filled in forms for households, often in English. And the National Archives used modern spellings in its transcriptions where needed. So the Irish-language figures depend on forms, enumerators and transcription as much as on people’s choices.39,37
What can the records actually prove?
A census shows who lived where, and how their name was written that night. It does not show whose descendants they were. Several families of the same name often lived in the same district. And one person could go by several forms: the writer Aindrias Ó Baoighill appears in newspapers as Andrew Boyle and Andrew O’Boyle.57,28
Show every county as a table
| County | 1901 | 1911 | 1926 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antrim | 1,078 | 1,055 | – |
| Armagh | 417 | 397 | – |
| Carlow | 35 | 32 | 27 |
| Cavan | 181 | 167 | 149 |
| Clare | 104 | 93 | 96 |
| Cork | 98 | 97 | 73 |
| Derry | 525 | 572 | – |
| Donegal | 4,460 | 4,382 | 4,069 |
| Down | 405 | 385 | – |
| Dublin | 310 | 384 | 444 |
| Fermanagh | 195 | 188 | – |
| Galway | 375 | 389 | 345 |
| Kerry | 211 | 216 | 208 |
| Kildare | 30 | 52 | 25 |
| Kilkenny | 98 | 106 | 83 |
| Laois | 10 | 11 | 2 |
| Leitrim | 138 | 108 | 102 |
| Limerick | 111 | 74 | 68 |
| Longford | 30 | 22 | 29 |
| Louth | 422 | 366 | 324 |
| Mayo | 1,084 | 1,144 | 957 |
| Meath | 183 | 183 | 194 |
| Monaghan | 227 | 228 | 208 |
| Offaly | 34 | 20 | 12 |
| Roscommon | 139 | 130 | 118 |
| Sligo | 184 | 172 | 176 |
| Tipperary | 138 | 133 | 124 |
| Tyrone | 439 | 429 | – |
| Waterford | 62 | 48 | 47 |
| Westmeath | 45 | 41 | 60 |
| Wexford | 92 | 77 | 80 |
| Wicklow | 9 | 11 | 9 |
– Not in this census (the 1926 census covered 26 counties only).
How these figures were made
Figures are individual people, not households or search results, as indexed by the National Archives of Ireland. Spellings are grouped as Boyle; O’Boyle (including OBoyle, O Boyle and similar); and Irish forms (Ó, Ua, Ní, Uí or Bean Uí with Baoighill and close spellings). Excluded: Boyles, Boylen, Kilboyle, Gilboyle, Ó Baoighealláin (Boylan) and transcriptions that run two names together, such as ‘Boyle John’.57
“Per 10,000” is calculated from everyone indexed in the same county in the same census, not from official population tables. The index totals are close to the official figures (4.43 million people indexed for 1901) but not identical.57
The 1926 census covered the 26 counties only, and the National Archives says its 1926 Donegal index is still being checked, so figures may change. Counties are given their modern names (Offaly, Laois, Derry). District names are as indexed, and some differ between years (e.g. Annagary/Annagarry).57
Northern Ireland’s 1926 household returns were lost, probably during the Second World War; only the statistical tables survive. When 1926 is selected, the six northern counties show their 1911 figures, hatched and labelled.50
The Donegal map is drawn on today’s electoral divisions (Tailte Éireann, 2019), matched by name to the census districts. Some boundaries and names have changed since, so the map is approximate. Surnames are grouped into families with a hand-made list of English and Irish forms; spellings not on the list stay under their own name.60,57
Census transcription is a reading of handwriting and can contain errors, such as Irish characters garbled in processing (NÃ for Ní). Such spellings are shown as they appear in the index.57
2026-10-22
1890
An earlier count comes from Robert Matheson’s report on surnames, based on the birth indexes for 1890. That year 273 births were registered under Boyle, 189 of them in Ulster, and the name was found chiefly in Donegal, Antrim, Mayo, Tyrone, Armagh and Louth.58
The name abroad
Each country keeps different records, so the figures cannot simply be added up. The United States figures are people holding the surname; Scotland’s are entries in its registers; Australia’s are arrivals.59,52,53,54
In the United States
The US Census Bureau publishes national surname counts for 2000 and 2010, and percentage shares for 1990, but not counts by state. None of the Irish spellings (Ó Baoighill, Ó Baoill and the rest) appears in these lists, which leave out rarer surnames.59
| Census | Boyle | O’Boyle | Irish spellings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | 0.012% (rank 989) | 0.001% (rank 11,658) | – |
| 2000 | 39,141 (rank 802) | 3,263 (rank 9,192) | – |
| 2010 | 39,921 (rank 866) | 3,281 (rank 9,859) | – |
| 2020 | 38,028 (rank 905) | 3,193 (rank 9,703) | – |
Included: Boyle and O’Boyle (the Census Bureau stores O’Boyle as OBOYLE). Not included: Boyles (10,361 people in 2020), mostly an English or Scottish name; Boylan, a different Irish name; and Irish spellings such as Ó Baoighill or Ó Baoill, which are too rare to appear in the published lists.59
Not every American Boyle descends from the Uí Bhaoighill: Scotland has an unrelated Boyle family (the Boyles of Kelburn in Ayrshire), and Boyles with an s is mostly an English or Scottish name. On the other hand, women who changed their surname and everyone descended through a female line are not counted, so people of Ó Baoighill descent far outnumber people called Boyle.59Scholarly interpretation
The 1950 census can be searched by name at the US National Archives, but its index was read by machine and matches loosely, so it is not used for counts here. The historical estimates below come from IPUMS’s public census samples; full counts with names need a restricted licence.
Scotland
National Records of Scotland publish how often each surname appears in each year’s birth, marriage and death registers. Boyle has ranked between 79th and 105th in Scotland every year since 1975: 364 entries in 1975 and 198 in 2025. O’Boyle reached the threshold of 10 entries only in 1995, 2000 and 2017.52
England and Wales
The Office for National Statistics does not publish surname counts for England and Wales, and has declined Freedom of Information requests for them as bespoke work. There is no official figure, so none is given here.51
Boyle and O’Boyle across the United States, 1850–1930
IPUMS’s public samples of the 1850–1930 US censuses include surnames, so it is possible to estimate where Boyles and O’Boyles lived. The 10% sample of 1880 suggests about 16,000 of them in the United States: 28% born in Ireland, and 73% either born in Ireland or with an Irish-born parent. Pennsylvania (about 4,200) and New York (about 2,900) had the most.56
By 1930 there were about 24,000, but only 10% had been born in Ireland, and 35% were born there or had an Irish-born parent. Emigrants’ grandchildren cannot be identified in the census, so the rest include third-generation Irish Americans as well as Boyle families of Scottish or English origin.56
These are sample estimates. The 1880 (10%), 1900 and 1930 (5%) samples are reasonably reliable; the other years are 1% samples and much less precise. Parents’ birthplaces were not asked before 1880. States with fewer than 10 records in the sample are not shown.56
Australia
The Australian Bureau of Statistics does not count surnames. But free indexes record who arrived. The New South Wales Assisted Immigrants Index (1839–1896) has 145 entries under Boyle or O’Boyle, 35 of them “and family”. In Victoria, the Register of Assisted Immigrants from the UK (1839–1871) has 141 entries and the inward passenger lists (1852–1923) 530.53,54,55
These are index entries, not people: one entry can cover a whole family, and the same person can appear in more than one list. These indexes do not give the county people came from, so how many were from Donegal is not known.53,55
| Decade | entries |
|---|---|
| 1830s | 1 |
| 1840s | 28 |
| 1850s | 45 |
| 1860s | 46 |
| 1870s | 11 |
| 1880s | 14 |
| Decade | entries |
|---|---|
| 1830s | 2 |
| 1840s | 36 |
| 1850s | 51 |
| 1860s | 52 |
| Decade | entries |
|---|---|
| 1850s | 102 |
| 1860s | 97 |
| 1870s | 40 |
| 1880s | 82 |
| 1890s | 70 |
| 1900s | 57 |
| 1910s | 57 |
| 1920s | 25 |