The neighborhood and one of its principal streets were named after Mariano Boedo, a leading figure in the Argentine independence.

The corner of San Juan and Boedo is mentioned in the opening verse of the tango Sur, one of the best-loved songs about Buenos Aires.

Notable members of the Boedo group included Enrique Amorim, Leónidas Barletta, Elías Castelnuovo, Roberto Mariani, Nicolás Olivari, Lorenzo Stanchina, César Tiempo, and Álvaro Yunque.

Magazines associated with the Boedo group included Dínamo, Extrema Izquierda and Los Pensadores, and Antonio Zamora's publishing house Claridad.

The suburb is immortalized in the tango 'Boedo', written in 1928 by Julio De Caro and with lyrics by Francisco Bautista Rímoli.