Bence
Hungarian masculine name meaning "blessed".
Name Census estimates that about 200 living Americans carry the first name Bence. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bence today is around 13 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bence births was 2008 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bence. 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 Bence with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
200
~ 1 in 1,713,772 Americans
Peak year
2008
17 babies that year
Average age
13
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,367
Tracked since 2000
Census
Bence in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 268 people with the first name Bence, which placed it at #31,773 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
#31,773
National first-name rank
People counted
268
268 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
91.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bence
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bence is White at 91.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.9%). 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 Bence 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 Bence at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White91.0% · 244
- Hispanic or Latino4.5% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.9% · 5
- Two or more races1.9% · 5
- Black or African American0.7% · 2
Popularity
Bence: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bence from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 80 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Bence remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bence 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 Bence during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bence
The name Bence is derived from the Hungarian language and has its roots in the medieval era. It is a variation of the name Benedek, which is the Hungarian form of the Latin name Benedictus, meaning "blessed" or "one who is blessed."
In Hungary, the name Bence gained popularity during the Middle Ages, when it was commonly associated with members of the clergy or religious orders. One of the earliest recorded uses of the name can be found in the 11th century, when a monk named Bence was mentioned in a historical document from the Benedictine monastery of Pannonhalma, one of the oldest monasteries in Hungary.
Throughout the centuries, the name Bence has been borne by various notable figures in Hungarian history. One such individual was Bence Kálmán (1913-2003), a renowned Hungarian painter and graphic artist who was a prominent figure in the country's modern art scene. Another notable bearer of the name was Bence Szabó (1939-2022), a Hungarian actor and voice artist who lent his talents to numerous films, television shows, and theatrical productions.
Beyond Hungary, the name Bence has been used in other Central European countries, particularly in areas with significant Hungarian populations or cultural influences. For instance, in the 16th century, a Croatian nobleman named Bence Drašković (1530-1595) served as a military commander and played a crucial role in defending Croatia against Ottoman invasions.
In the realm of literature, the name Bence appears in several works, including the novel "The Paul Street Boys" by Ferenc Molnár, a Hungarian writer renowned for his children's literature. In this novel, one of the main characters is a boy named Bence, whose adventures and mischievous exploits are central to the storyline.
Other notable individuals who have borne the name Bence include Bence Dalnoki (1924-2014), a Hungarian-American mathematician and computer scientist who made significant contributions to the field of computational geometry, and Bence Nanay (born 1978), a Hungarian philosopher and academic known for his work in the philosophy of perception and aesthetics.
While the name Bence may not be as widely recognized outside of Central Europe, its rich history and connections to Hungarian culture and folklore have ensured its enduring presence as a beloved name choice within the region and among those with Hungarian heritage.
People
Bence + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bence 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
Bence: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bence?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 200 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bence 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 1,713,772 US residents.
Is Bence a common name?
We classify Bence as "Very Rare". It ranks above 74.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 202 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bence most popular?
The single biggest year for Bence was 2008, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bence is about 13 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bence in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 268 people with the name Bence, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,773 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 Bence 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 Bence?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bence leans strongly male. 264 people counted with this name were male (98.5%), compared with 4 female bearers (1.5%). 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 Bence?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bence is White at 91.0%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (4.5%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (1.9%). 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 Bence most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bence in the 2020 Census, accounting for 91.0% (244 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 Bence in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bence a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bence 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 Bence still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bence 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 Bence 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 have Bence as a first name?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Bence on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.