Eduard Böhm was born in the Italian city of Ancona where his father served with a small representative detachment of the Austrian army. His father, Georg Böhm (1813–1893), had as a sergeant won a battlefield commission for bravery after the battle of Novara in 1849, been promoted to the rank of major upon his retirement in 1877. In June 1885, he received permission to attach his wife's (Maria Josepha Ermolli) maiden name to his family name. He was elevated to hereditary nobility in September 1885, and hence the family was known as "von Böhm-Ermolli".