Benjaman
Son of the right hand, fortunate son.
Name Census estimates that about 1,007 living Americans carry the first name Benjaman. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Benjaman today is around 50 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Benjaman births was 1977 (44 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Benjaman. 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 Benjaman with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 340,372 Americans
Peak year
1977
44 babies that year
Average age
50
years old
2020 SSA rank
#12,252
Tracked since 1880
Census
Benjaman in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 700 people with the first name Benjaman, which placed it at #16,202 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
#16,202
National first-name rank
People counted
700
700 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Benjaman
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benjaman is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Benjaman 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 Benjaman at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.7% · 551
- Black or African American6.9% · 48
- Hispanic or Latino6.9% · 48
- Two or more races4.3% · 30
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.7% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.6% · 4
Popularity
Benjaman: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Benjaman 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 317 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
Benjaman 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 Benjaman during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Benjamans live
The SSA's state-level files cover 5 states and territories. Alabama, Texas, Georgia recorded the most babies named Benjaman, while Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Benjaman
The name Benjaman is derived from the Hebrew name Benjamin, which means "son of the right hand" or "son of the south". Its origins can be traced back to the biblical figure Benjamin, one of the twelve sons of Jacob in the Book of Genesis.
In the Old Testament, Benjamin was the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel. He was born to Rachel on the way to Bethlehem, and she sadly died during childbirth. The name Benjamin is mentioned numerous times throughout the Hebrew Bible and is considered a significant figure in the history of the Israelites.
The earliest recorded use of the name Benjaman can be found in ancient Hebrew texts and manuscripts from the first century AD. While the spelling variations of "Benjaman" and "Benjamin" were used interchangeably during this time, the former was more prevalent in certain regions of the Middle East.
One of the earliest known individuals with the name Benjaman was Benjaman ben Jonah, a Jewish scholar and philosopher from the 12th century who lived in Navarre, Spain. He was renowned for his work in the field of astronomy and contributed significantly to the understanding of celestial phenomena during his time.
Another notable figure was Benjaman Disraeli, a British politician and writer who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1868 to 1868 and from 1874 to 1880. He was born in 1804 and played a significant role in shaping the policies of the British Empire during the Victorian era.
In the realm of literature, Benjaman Franklin, born in 1706, was a renowned American author, printer, philosopher, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. His works, such as "Poor Richard's Almanack" and his contributions to the American Revolution, have made him an iconic figure in American history.
Moving into the 20th century, Benjaman Britten, born in 1913, was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the 20th century, with notable works like the opera "Peter Grimes" and the "War Requiem".
Finally, Benjaman Zephaniah, born in 1958, is a British writer, dub poet, and Rastafarian activist. He is known for his unique blend of poetry and music, often addressing social and political issues, and has been a prominent voice in the literary world for several decades.
People
Benjaman + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Benjaman 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
Benjaman: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Benjaman?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,007 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Benjaman 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 340,372 US residents.
Is Benjaman a common name?
We classify Benjaman as "Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,024 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Benjaman most popular?
The single biggest year for Benjaman was 1977, when 44 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Benjaman is about 50 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Benjaman in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 700 people with the name Benjaman, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,202 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 Benjaman 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 Benjaman?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benjaman appears almost entirely male. Of the 703 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 Benjaman?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benjaman is White at 78.7%. The next largest groups are Black (6.9%) and Hispanic (6.9%). 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 Benjaman most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Benjaman in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.7% (551 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 Benjaman in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Benjaman a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Benjaman 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 Benjaman still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Benjaman 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 Benjaman 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 share the name Benjaman?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.