Benedicto
Masculine name of Latin origin meaning "blessed one".
Name Census estimates that about 164 living Americans carry the first name Benedicto. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Benedicto today is around 39 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Benedicto births was 1963 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Benedicto. 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
164
~ 1 in 2,089,965 Americans
Peak year
1963
9 babies that year
Average age
39
years old
2022 SSA rank
#9,958
Tracked since 1921
Census
Benedicto in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,557 people with the first name Benedicto, which placed it at #9,090 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
#9,090
National first-name rank
People counted
1.6K
1,557 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
63.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Benedicto
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benedicto is Hispanic at 63.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.7%) and White (1.7%). 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 Benedicto 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 Benedicto at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino63.1% · 982
- Asian and Pacific Islander33.7% · 525
- White1.7% · 26
- Black or African American0.8% · 12
- Two or more races0.4% · 7
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 5
Popularity
Benedicto: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Benedicto from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 45 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Benedicto 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 Benedicto during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Benedictos live
Origin
Meaning and history of Benedicto
The name Benedicto has its origins in the Latin language and can be traced back to ancient Rome and the early days of Christianity. The name is derived from the Latin words "bene" meaning "well" and "dictus" meaning "spoken." Combined, these words form the meaning "well spoken" or "blessed."
One of the earliest and most notable historical figures associated with this name is Saint Benedict of Nursia, a Christian monk who lived in the 6th century. He is considered the founder of Western monasticism and the author of the Benedictine Rule, which became the guiding principles for monastic life in the Catholic Church. Born around 480 AD in Nursia, Italy, Saint Benedict played a significant role in the spread of Christianity throughout Europe.
The name Benedicto also has a strong connection to the papacy in the Catholic Church. Several popes have borne this name, including Pope Benedict V (964-965 AD), Pope Benedict VIII (1012-1024 AD), and Pope Benedict XIII (1724-1730 AD). These popes left their mark on the history of the Church and the world during their respective reigns.
Another notable figure with the name Benedicto is Benedictus of Aniane, a Frankish Benedictine reformer who lived in the 8th and 9th centuries. He played a crucial role in reviving the Benedictine monastic tradition in the Carolingian Empire and establishing the Benedictine Confederation, which helped standardize monastic practices across Europe.
In the realm of literature, one cannot overlook Benedicto Calderón, a Spanish Golden Age dramatist and playwright who lived from 1600 to 1681. His works, including "El Alcalde de Zalamea" and "La Vida es Sueño," are considered masterpieces of Spanish literature and have had a lasting impact on the world of theater.
Another noteworthy figure is Benedictus de Spinoza, a Dutch philosopher who lived from 1632 to 1677. Known as one of the great rationalists of the 17th century, Spinoza's works, including "Ethics" and "Tractatus Theologico-Politicus," had a profound influence on modern philosophy, particularly in the areas of metaphysics and ethics.
People
Benedicto + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Benedicto 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
Benedicto: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Benedicto?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 164 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Benedicto 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 2,089,965 US residents.
Is Benedicto a common name?
We classify Benedicto as "Very Rare". It ranks above 71.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 190 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Benedicto most popular?
The single biggest year for Benedicto was 1963, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Benedicto is about 39 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Benedicto in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,557 people with the name Benedicto, or 0.52 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,090 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 Benedicto 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 Benedicto?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benedicto appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,563 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 Benedicto?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benedicto is Hispanic at 63.1%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (33.7%) and White (1.7%). 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 Benedicto most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Benedicto in the 2020 Census, accounting for 63.1% (982 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 Benedicto in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Benedicto a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Benedicto 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 Benedicto still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Benedicto 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 Benedicto 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 Benedicto?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Benedicto at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.