Origin and history of booby

"stupid person," 1590s, from Spanish bobo "stupid person," also used of various ungainly seabirds, probably from Latin balbus "stammering," from an imitative root (see barbarian).

The specific sense "dunce in a school class" is by 1825. Hence also booby prize "object of little value given to the loser of a game," attested by 1884:

At the end of every session the dominie had the satirical custom of presenting his tawse [a corporal punishment implement used for educational discipline] as a "booby-prize" to some idle or stupid lout whom he picked out as meriting this distinction so that next time they met he might start fresh and fair with new pair for a new set of classes. [Ascott R. Hope, "Dumps," Young England magazine, September 1884]

Booby trap is by 1832, in a political figurative sense; said to have been originally in reference to schoolboy pranks. The more lethal sense is attested by 1917, during the German retreat in World War I.

A constant feature of the future will be "booby" traps, situated in ruins or dugouts, where the Germans expend endless but futile ingenuity. Any loose article is liable to be connected with a hidden mine. ["Booby" Traps. Dangerous Hun Tricks, Daily Herald, Adelaide, Australia, April 9, 1917] 

Booby-hatch "wooden framework used to cover the after-hatch on merchant vessels" is from 1840; as "insane asylum" by 1936.