Benjie
Diminutive form of the Hebrew name Benjamin meaning "son of the right hand".
Name Census estimates that about 785 living Americans carry the first name Benjie. It is a predominantly male name (96.7% of registrations). The average person named Benjie today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Benjie births was 1960 (52 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Benjie. 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
785
~ 1 in 436,630 Americans
Peak year
1960
52 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
2024 SSA rank
#5,757
Tracked since 1935
Census
Benjie in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 805 people with the first name Benjie, which placed it at #14,592 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
#14,592
National first-name rank
People counted
805
805 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
46.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Benjie
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benjie is White at 46.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.2%) and Black (11.2%). 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 Benjie 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 Benjie at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White46.8% · 377
- Asian and Pacific Islander29.2% · 235
- Black or African American11.2% · 90
- Hispanic or Latino9.6% · 77
- Two or more races2.4% · 19
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.9% · 7
Gender
Gender distribution for Benjie
Benjie leans heavily male at 96.7% of total registrations, but 31 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Benjie as a male name
- Ranked #12,535 in 2024
- 5 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1962 (50 births)
Benjie as a female name
- Ranked #5,757 in 1960
- 6 female births in 1960
- Peak: 1955 (12 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benjie leans strongly male. 708 people counted with this name were male (87.6%), compared with 100 female bearers (12.4%).
Popularity
Benjie: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Benjie from the 1930s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 312 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Benjie 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 Benjie during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Benjies live
The SSA's state-level files cover 8 states and territories. Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Benjie, while New York, Texas, New Mexico recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 12 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Benjie
The name Benjie is a diminutive form of the Hebrew name Benjamin, derived from the phrase "ben-yamin," which translates to "son of the right hand" or "son of the south." Its origins can be traced back to ancient Israel, where it was first mentioned in the biblical book of Genesis as the name of one of the twelve sons of Jacob.
Benjamin played a significant role in the Old Testament, and his tribe later became one of the most prominent among the Israelites. The name gained popularity during the biblical era and has been used throughout various cultures and time periods.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Benjie can be found in the writings of the 17th-century English poet John Milton, who used it as a diminutive form of Benjamin in his epic poem "Paradise Lost." However, it was not until the 19th century that the name gained wider recognition and usage.
Notable historical figures bearing the name Benjie include Benjie Jones (1867-1949), a Welsh rugby player who played for the British Lions and was part of the first official British Isles tour to South Africa in 1891. Benjie Clement (1921-2001) was an American baseball player who played for the Boston Red Sox and the Philadelphia Athletics in the 1940s.
In the field of literature, Benjie Reid (1887-1926) was a Scottish poet and writer known for his works depicting life in the Scottish Highlands. Benjie Smith (1905-1998) was an American jazz drummer who performed with renowned musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Benny Goodman.
One of the most famous individuals with the name Benjie was Benjie Franklin (1706-1790), an American polymath and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a renowned author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, inventor, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat.
While the name Benjie has evolved over time and gained popularity in various cultures, its roots remain deeply embedded in the biblical tradition, reflecting the enduring influence of ancient Hebrew names.
People
Benjie + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Benjie 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
Benjie: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Benjie?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 785 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Benjie 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 436,630 US residents.
Is Benjie a common name?
We classify Benjie as "Very Rare". It ranks above 88.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 948 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Benjie most popular?
The single biggest year for Benjie was 1960, when 52 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Benjie is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Benjie in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 805 people with the name Benjie, or 0.27 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,592 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 Benjie 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 Benjie?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benjie leans strongly male. 708 people counted with this name were male (87.6%), compared with 100 female bearers (12.4%). 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 Benjie?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benjie is White at 46.8%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (29.2%) and Black (11.2%). 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 Benjie most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Benjie in the 2020 Census, accounting for 46.8% (377 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 Benjie in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Benjie a male name?
Yes, 96.7% of people registered as Benjie 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 Benjie still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Benjie 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 Benjie 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 Benjie as a first name?
If you just want to know how many Americans are named Benjie, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.