Benjimin
Son of the right hand; a name with Hebrew origins meaning "son of the south".
Name Census estimates that about 259 living Americans carry the first name Benjimin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Benjimin today is around 29 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Benjimin births was 2006 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Benjimin. 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 Benjimin with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
259
~ 1 in 1,323,376 Americans
Peak year
2006
15 babies that year
Average age
29
years old
2022 SSA rank
#12,594
Tracked since 1924
Census
Benjimin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 336 people with the first name Benjimin, which placed it at #27,298 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
#27,298
National first-name rank
People counted
336
336 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
58.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Benjimin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benjimin is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and Black (10.7%). 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 Benjimin 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 Benjimin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White58.3% · 196
- Hispanic or Latino18.5% · 62
- Black or African American10.7% · 36
- Asian and Pacific Islander6.3% · 21
- Two or more races4.8% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.5% · 5
Popularity
Benjimin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Benjimin from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 62 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2010s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Benjimin 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 Benjimin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Benjimin
The name Benjimin is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin, derived from the Biblical name Benjamin. Its roots can be traced back to ancient Hebrew, where it is composed of the elements "ben" meaning "son" and "yamin" meaning "right hand" or "right side." The name is believed to have originated around the 2nd millennium BCE.
In the biblical narrative, Benjamin was one of the twelve sons of Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites. He was the youngest son and the only one born in Canaan, which later became part of the Promised Land. The biblical story of Benjamin's birth is found in the Book of Genesis, where his mother Rachel died during childbirth.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Benjamin can be found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, a collection of ancient Jewish religious manuscripts dating back to the 3rd century BCE to the 1st century CE. The name appears in various forms, including "Binyamin" and "Binyamin."
Throughout history, the name Benjimin has been borne by numerous notable figures. One of the earliest was Benjamin of Tudela, a 12th-century Spanish Jewish traveler and explorer, known for his travels and writings documenting Jewish communities across Europe and Asia. He lived from circa 1130 to circa 1173.
Another prominent figure was Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was a renowned polymath, author, inventor, and diplomat, known for his contributions to the American Revolution and his scientific discoveries, including the lightning rod.
In the 19th century, Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) was a British statesman and literary figure, serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was known for his political career and his novels, which often explored themes of social and political satire.
Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was a 20th-century English composer, conductor, and pianist, renowned for his operas and orchestral works. His compositions, such as the War Requiem and The Turn of the Screw, have become staples in the classical music repertoire.
Lastly, Benjamin Zephaniah (born 1958) is a contemporary British writer, poet, and activist, known for his work in performance poetry and his advocacy for social justice. He has published numerous collections of poetry and has been recognized with various awards for his literary contributions.
People
Benjimin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Benjimin 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
Benjimin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Benjimin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 259 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Benjimin 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 1,323,376 US residents.
Is Benjimin a common name?
We classify Benjimin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 77.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 283 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Benjimin most popular?
The single biggest year for Benjimin was 2006, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Benjimin is about 29 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Benjimin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 336 people with the name Benjimin, or 0.11 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #27,298 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 Benjimin 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 Benjimin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benjimin appears almost entirely male. Of the 337 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 Benjimin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benjimin is White at 58.3%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (18.5%) and Black (10.7%). 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 Benjimin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Benjimin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.3% (196 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 Benjimin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Benjimin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Benjimin 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 Benjimin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Benjimin 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 Benjimin 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 are named Benjimin?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.