Benjamin
Benjamin is ranked 11th among boys in 2024 (9,814 births). Its best rank was 6th, in 2016–2018.
- Rank in 2024
- #11same as 2023
- Births in 2024
- 9,8140.57% of boys
- Peak year
- 198915,733 births
- Best rank
- #6first in 2016
- Since 1880
- 819,436people given the name
The story in the numbers
816,962 boys have been named Benjamin in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1989, with 15,733 births — 0.79% of all boys recorded that year.
It is holding steady: its share of births has moved by less than half in either direction over ten years (rank 12 → 11).
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1993, and the 1980s alone account for 17%. It has spent 145 of 145 years in the top 1,000, 104 of them in the top 100 and 8 in the top 10.
It is overwhelmingly a boy’s name: 2,474 girls have also been given it, 0.30% of the total.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Benjamin | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 5,407 | |
| 1890s | 4,460 | |
| 1900s | 4,009 | |
| 1910s | 17,310 | |
| 1920s | 21,028 | |
| 1930s | 14,613 | |
| 1940s | 17,183 | |
| 1950s | 23,834 | |
| 1960s | 25,610 | |
| 1970s | 81,337 | |
| 1980s | 141,385 | |
| 1990s | 133,937 | |
| 2000s | 137,299 | |
| 2010s | 134,477 | |
| 2020s | 55,073 |
In 1989, its biggest year
Benjamin was the 29th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1989 were Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Joshua and David. See all of 1989.
Names that rose and fell with Benjamin
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Aronpeak 2008
- Quincypeak 1977
- Hugopeak 2006
- Grantpeak 1997
- Tomaspeak 2003
- Nathanpeak 2004
- Nathanielpeak 2002
- Vicentepeak 2023
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.