Becket
A masculine name derived from a diminutive form of the name Benedict.
Name Census estimates that about 554 living Americans carry the first name Becket. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Becket today is around 12 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Becket births was 2016 (41 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Becket. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
554
~ 1 in 618,690 Americans
Peak year
2016
41 babies that year
Average age
12
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,325
Tracked since 1969
Popularity
Becket: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Becket from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 282 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Becket remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Becket by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Becket during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Beckets live
Origin
Meaning and history of Becket
The name Becket has its origins in the Norman French language, tracing back to the Middle Ages. It is derived from the Old English words "beocc" meaning "beech tree" and "haecc" meaning "gate or hedge." The earliest recorded spelling of the name was "Bechet" in the Domesday Book of 1086, which was a comprehensive survey of land ownership in England commissioned by William the Conqueror.
One of the most famous historical figures associated with the name Becket is Thomas Becket (1118-1170), the Archbishop of Canterbury who was assassinated on the orders of King Henry II. Becket's martyrdom and subsequent canonization as a saint made his name widely known throughout Christendom during the Middle Ages.
Another notable figure was Samuel Beckett (1906-1989), the Irish novelist, playwright, and poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1969. His works, including "Waiting for Godot" and "Endgame," explored existential themes and the absurdity of human existence.
In the realm of literature, the name Becket appears in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales," written in the late 14th century. One of the pilgrims in the famous collection of stories is named "Bekkit," which is likely a variant spelling of the name.
During the English Renaissance, the name Becket was associated with the Reformation and the conflict between King Henry VIII and the Catholic Church. John Becket (1511-1537) was a Catholic martyr who was executed for refusing to acknowledge the king's supremacy over the Church.
In the field of sports, Walter Beckett (1914-1996) was a Canadian ice hockey player who played for the New York Rangers and won the Stanley Cup in 1940. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1966.
People
Becket + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Becket as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Becket: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Becket?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 554 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Becket going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 618,690 US residents.
Is Becket a common name?
We classify Becket as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 559 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Becket most popular?
The single biggest year for Becket was 2016, when 41 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Becket is about 12 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Becket a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Becket in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.