Benito
Meaning "blessed" in Latin, a masculine name with Italian and Spanish origins.
Name Census estimates that about 11,113 living Americans carry the first name Benito. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Benito today is around 41 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Benito births was 2023 (201 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Benito. 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 Benito with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
11K
~ 1 in 30,843 Americans
Peak year
2023
201 babies that year
Average age
41
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,196
Tracked since 1880
Census
Benito in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 19,433 people with the first name Benito, which placed it at #1,629 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
#1,629
National first-name rank
People counted
19K
19,433 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
6.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
90.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Benito
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benito is Hispanic at 90.6%. The next largest groups are White (3.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.4%). 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 Benito 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 Benito at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino90.6% · 17,597
- White3.9% · 759
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.4% · 663
- Black or African American1.4% · 279
- Two or more races0.4% · 74
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 61
Gender
Gender distribution for Benito
Out of the 14,577 babies given the name Benito since 1880, 99.8% 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.
Benito as a male name
- Ranked #1,196 in 2024
- 170 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2023 (201 births)
Benito as a female name
- Ranked #13,389 in 1991
- 5 female births in 1991
- Peak: 1981 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benito appears almost entirely male. Of the 19,429 people counted with this name, 99.7% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Benito: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Benito from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 1,812 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1990s peak, Benito remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Benito 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 Benito during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Benitos live
The SSA's state-level files cover 23 states and territories. Texas, California, New Mexico recorded the most babies named Benito, while South Carolina, Minnesota, Kansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 493 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Benito
The name Benito originated from the Italian language and culture. It is a diminutive form of the Italian name Benedetto, which is derived from the Latin name Benedictus, meaning "blessed." The name was particularly popular in medieval Italy and Spain.
The name Benedictus can be traced back to the early Christian era, as it was the name of several early saints and popes. One of the most notable figures with this name is Saint Benedict of Nursia, who lived in the 6th century and is considered the founder of the Benedictine monastic order.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Benito can be found in the 12th century, in reference to Benito Guzman, a Spanish nobleman and military leader during the Reconquista. Another notable figure was Benito Arias Montano, a 16th-century Spanish scholar and biblical editor.
In the 19th century, the name gained prominence with Benito Juarez, a Mexican politician and statesman who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 to 1872. He is celebrated for his liberal reforms and for leading Mexico through the French intervention.
Another famous bearer of the name was Benito Mussolini, the Italian dictator who ruled as the Prime Minister of Italy from 1922 to 1943 and established a fascist regime. He played a significant role in World War II as an ally of Nazi Germany.
In the 20th century, Benito Quinquela Martin, an Argentine painter known for his depictions of dock workers and port scenes, also carried this name. He was born in 1890 and died in 1977.
While the popularity of the name Benito has waned in recent decades, it remains a significant historical name, particularly in Italian and Spanish-speaking cultures, with its roots in the early Christian era and its association with notable figures throughout history.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Benito
People
Benito + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Benito 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
Benito: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Benito?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,113 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Benito 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 30,843 US residents.
Is Benito a common name?
We classify Benito as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 14,577 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Benito most popular?
The single biggest year for Benito was 2023, when 201 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Benito is about 41 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Benito in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 19,433 people with the name Benito, or 6.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #1,629 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 Benito 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 Benito?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benito appears almost entirely male. Of the 19,429 people counted with this name, 99.7% 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 Benito?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benito is Hispanic at 90.6%. The next largest groups are White (3.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (3.4%). 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 Benito most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Benito in the 2020 Census, accounting for 90.6% (17,597 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 Benito in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Benito a male name?
Yes, 99.8% of people registered as Benito 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 Benito still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Benito 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 Benito 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 the name Benito?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Benito on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.