Bejamin
Son of the right hand, favored one.
Name Census estimates that about 437 living Americans carry the first name Bejamin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bejamin today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bejamin births was 1986 (29 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bejamin. 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
437
~ 1 in 784,335 Americans
Peak year
1986
29 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2022 SSA rank
#7,827
Tracked since 1960
Census
Bejamin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,113 people with the first name Bejamin, which placed it at #11,484 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#11,484
National first-name rank
People counted
1.1K
1,113 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
55.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bejamin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bejamin is White at 55.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.1%) and Black (7.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Bejamin described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Bejamin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White55.9% · 622
- Hispanic or Latino28.1% · 313
- Black or African American7.2% · 80
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.6% · 51
- Two or more races3.2% · 36
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 11
Popularity
Bejamin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bejamin from the 1960s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1980s, with 198 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1980s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bejamin 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 Bejamin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bejamins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bejamin
The name Bejamin is derived from the Hebrew name Benjamin, which means "son of the right hand" or "son of the south." The name has its origins in the biblical figure Benjamin, one of the twelve sons of Jacob and the founder of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
The name Benjamin is first mentioned in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, where it is said to have been given to the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel. According to the biblical account, Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin, and as she was dying, she named him Ben-Oni, which means "son of my sorrow." However, Jacob later changed his name to Benjamin.
In ancient times, the name Benjamin was primarily used among the Jewish and Christian communities, as it was a name with strong biblical roots. However, over time, the name gained popularity in other cultures and regions, with various spellings and variations emerging.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Benjamin can be found in the Bible, where it is mentioned numerous times, particularly in the Book of Genesis and the Book of Judges. Additionally, the name appears in other ancient texts, such as the Talmud and the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Benjamin. These include:
1. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), an American polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
2. Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), a British politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
3. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), an English composer, conductor, and pianist.
4. Benjamin Netanyahu (born 1949), an Israeli politician who has served multiple terms as the Prime Minister of Israel.
5. Benjamin Zephaniah (born 1958), a British writer, dub poet, and Rastafarian activist.
The name Bejamin, while less common than the traditional spelling of Benjamin, is likely a variation or alternative spelling that has emerged over time, possibly due to cultural or regional influences. However, its meaning and origins remain tied to the biblical figure and the Hebrew roots of the name.
People
Bejamin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bejamin 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
Bejamin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bejamin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 437 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bejamin 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 784,335 US residents.
Is Bejamin a common name?
We classify Bejamin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 457 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bejamin most popular?
The single biggest year for Bejamin was 1986, when 29 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bejamin is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bejamin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,113 people with the name Bejamin, or 0.37 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #11,484 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Bejamin in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Bejamin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bejamin appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,112 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Bejamin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bejamin is White at 55.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (28.1%) and Black (7.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Bejamin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bejamin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 55.9% (622 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Bejamin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bejamin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bejamin 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.
Is Bejamin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bejamin in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Bejamin can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
How many people are called Bejamin?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.