Ben
Ben is ranked 801st among boys in 2024 (313 births). Its best rank was 43rd, in 1889.
- Rank in 2024
- #801down 5 from 2023
- Births in 2024
- 3130.02% of boys
- Peak year
- 19181,276 births
- Best rank
- #43in 1889
- Since 1880
- 85,049people given the name
The story in the numbers
85,049 boys have been named Ben in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1918, with 1,276 births — 0.13% of all boys recorded that year.
The name has all but left use: 313 births in 2024, against 1,276 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1945, and the 1920s alone account for 12%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 32 of them in the top 100.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Ben | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 3,449 | |
| 1890s | 3,156 | |
| 1900s | 3,028 | |
| 1910s | 9,539 | |
| 1920s | 10,610 | |
| 1930s | 8,638 | |
| 1940s | 8,078 | |
| 1950s | 7,765 | |
| 1960s | 7,919 | |
| 1970s | 5,805 | |
| 1980s | 4,503 | |
| 1990s | 3,454 | |
| 2000s | 4,174 | |
| 2010s | 3,338 | |
| 2020s | 1,593 |
In 1918, its biggest year
Ben was the 128th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1918 were John, William, James, Robert and Charles. See all of 1918.
Names that rose and fell with Ben
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Adolphuspeak 1922
- Guspeak 1921
- Napoleonpeak 1926
- Harrypeak 1918
- Judgepeak 1919
- Charliepeak 1919
- Clempeak 1917
- Rolliepeak 1947
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.