Ben
Hebrew masculine name meaning "son" or "son of the right hand".
Name Census estimates that about 41,427 living Americans carry the first name Ben. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Ben today is around 51 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Ben births was 1918 (1,293 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Ben. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Ben with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Ben is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 467 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
41K
~ 1 in 8,274 Americans
Peak year
1918
1,293 babies that year
Average age
51
years old
2024 SSA rank
#801
Tracked since 1880
Census
Ben in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 107,540 people with the first name Ben, which placed it at #526 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
#526
National first-name rank
People counted
108K
107,540 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
35.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
76.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Ben
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ben is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%). 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 Ben 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 Ben at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White76.9% · 82,718
- Hispanic or Latino7.1% · 7,682
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.4% · 6,909
- Black or African American5.8% · 6,236
- Two or more races2.9% · 3,140
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 855
Gender
Gender distribution for Ben
Out of the 85,516 babies given the name Ben since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Ben as a male name
- Ranked #801 in 2024
- 313 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1918 (1,276 births)
Ben as a female name
- Ranked #8,315 in 1982
- 7 female births in 1982
- Peak: 1917 (20 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ben appears almost entirely male. Of the 107,539 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Ben: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Ben from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 10,746 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Ben 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 Ben during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bens live
The SSA's state-level files cover 47 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Ben, while Maine, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 1,519 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Ben
The name Ben has its origins in the Hebrew language, derived from the biblical name Benjamin. The name Benjamin is a combination of two Hebrew words, "ben" meaning "son" and "yamin" meaning "right hand." This name's origins can be traced back to ancient times, with its earliest recorded use appearing in the biblical Book of Genesis, referring to one of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Benjamin was the youngest son of the patriarch Jacob and his wife Rachel. In the Book of Genesis, it is mentioned that Rachel named her son Benjamin, which means "son of my right hand" or "son of the south." This name was given to signify the tribe of Benjamin's inheritance in the Promised Land, which was located in the southern region of ancient Israel.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Ben was Ben Sira, also known as Sirach or Ecclesiasticus, who lived in Jerusalem around 200 BCE. He was a renowned Jewish philosopher and author of the Book of Sirach, which is part of the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical books of the Bible.
Throughout history, the name Ben has been used by various notable figures. One of the most famous was Ben Jonson (1572-1637), an English playwright, poet, actor, and literary critic who was a contemporary of William Shakespeare. His works, such as "Volpone" and "The Alchemist," are considered literary masterpieces of the Jacobean era.
Another notable figure was Ben Franklin (1706-1790), one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a polymath, renowned for his contributions to science, politics, and literature. Franklin played a crucial role in the American Revolution and served as the first United States Ambassador to France.
In the realm of music, Ben E. King (1938-2015) was an American soul singer and songwriter best known for his hit song "Stand by Me." He was a member of the renowned vocal group The Drifters and later launched a successful solo career.
Ben Hogan (1912-1997) was a legendary American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport. He won nine major championships and is credited with revolutionizing the technique and approach to golf.
Finally, Ben Kingsley (born 1943) is a British actor known for his versatility and acclaimed performances in films such as "Gandhi," for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, as well as "Schindler's List" and "Bugsy."
Notable bearers
Famous people named Ben
People
Ben + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Ben 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
Ben: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Ben?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 41,427 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Ben 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 8,274 US residents.
Is Ben a common name?
We classify Ben as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 85,516 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Ben most popular?
The single biggest year for Ben was 1918, when 1,293 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Ben is about 51 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Ben in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 107,540 people with the name Ben, or 35.61 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #526 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 Ben 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 Ben?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Ben appears almost entirely male. Of the 107,539 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 Ben?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Ben is White at 76.9%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (7.1%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (6.4%). 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 Ben most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Ben in the 2020 Census, accounting for 76.9% (82,718 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 Ben in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Ben a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Ben 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 Ben still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Ben 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 Ben 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 common is the name Ben?
See how many people share the name Ben on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.