Benedict
A masculine name derived from Latin, meaning "blessed".
Name Census estimates that about 6,539 living Americans carry the first name Benedict. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Benedict today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Benedict births was 2024 (254 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Benedict. 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
6.5K
~ 1 in 52,417 Americans
Peak year
2024
254 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#913
Tracked since 1882
Popularity
Benedict: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Benedict from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 1,344 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Benedict 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 Benedict during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Benedicts live
The SSA's state-level files cover 33 states and territories. New York, California, Pennsylvania recorded the most babies named Benedict, while Oregon, Oklahoma, Kentucky recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 168 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Benedict
The name Benedict has its origins in the Late Latin language. It is derived from the Latin words "bene" meaning "well" and "dictus" meaning "spoken". The name can be translated to mean "well spoken" or "blessed".
In the 6th century, the name became associated with the founder of the Benedictine monastic order, Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 – c. 547). He is renowned for writing the Benedictine Rule, which became the foundational document for Western monasticism.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Benedict can be found in the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I, written in the late 6th century. This work contains biographical details about Saint Benedict and helped to spread knowledge of his life and teachings.
Throughout history, several notable figures have carried the name Benedict. Pope Benedict I (c. 550 – 579) was the Bishop of Rome in the late 6th century. Benedict of Aniane (747 – 821) was a Benedictine monk and reformer who played a key role in reviving monastic life in the Carolingian Empire.
During the Middle Ages, Benedict Biscop (c. 628 – 690) was an Anglo-Saxon monk who founded the Monkwearmouth-Jarrow monasteries in present-day Tyne and Wear, England. These monasteries became renowned centers of learning and produced the Venerable Bede, a famous scholar and historian.
In more recent history, Benedict Arnold (1741 – 1801) was an American military officer who defected to the British during the American Revolutionary War. Despite his later betrayal, he was initially a skilled and respected officer.
Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger, 1927 – 2022) was the head of the Catholic Church from 2005 to 2013, when he became the first pope to resign in nearly 600 years. His resignation was a significant event in the modern history of the papacy.
People
Benedict + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Benedict 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
Benedict: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Benedict?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,539 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Benedict 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 52,417 US residents.
Is Benedict a common name?
We classify Benedict as "Rare". It ranks above 97.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 10,168 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Benedict most popular?
The single biggest year for Benedict was 2024, when 254 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Benedict is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Benedict a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Benedict 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.