Benny
Short form of the old German name Benedikt, meaning "blessed".
Name Census estimates that about 29,550 living Americans carry the first name Benny. It is a predominantly male name (98.7% of registrations). The average person named Benny today is around 58 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Benny births was 1948 (1,074 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Benny. 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.
Key insights
- • Although Benny is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 612 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
30K
~ 1 in 11,599 Americans
Peak year
1948
1,074 babies that year
Average age
58
years old
2024 SSA rank
#890
Tracked since 1882
Gender
Gender distribution for Benny
Benny leans heavily male at 98.7% of total registrations, but 612 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Benny as a male name
- Ranked #890 in 2024
- 265 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1948 (1,065 births)
Benny as a female name
- Ranked #9,008 in 2024
- 11 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1922 (18 births)
Popularity
Benny: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Benny from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 9,400 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Benny 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 Benny during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bennys live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Texas, California, New York recorded the most babies named Benny, while Wyoming, Nevada, District of Columbia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 997 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Benny
The name Benny is a diminutive form of the name Benjamin, which is derived from the Hebrew name בִּנְיָמִין (Binyamin). The name Benjamin means "son of the right hand" or "son of the south" in Hebrew. It is a biblical name that first appeared in the Old Testament as the name of the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel.
The name Benny emerged as a nickname for Benjamin in the Middle Ages, particularly in English-speaking countries. It was often used as an affectionate or informal form of the name Benjamin.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Benny can be found in the 16th century. In 1560, Benny Whetstone was listed as a resident of Wiltshire, England, in the parish records.
Throughout history, there have been several notable individuals who bore the name Benny. One of the most famous was Benny Goodman (1909-1986), an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing." He was a leading figure in the Swing era of the 1930s and 1940s and helped popularize jazz music among a wider audience.
Another notable Benny was Benny Hill (1924-1992), an English comedian and actor best known for his long-running comedy television show "The Benny Hill Show." He was renowned for his slapstick humor and often controversial sketches.
In the world of sports, Benny Parsons (1941-2007) was a famous American NASCAR driver who won the NASCAR Championship in 1973. He later worked as a television commentator for NASCAR broadcasts.
Benny Binion (1904-1989) was a notorious American gambling icon and founder of the Horseshoe Casino in Las Vegas. He was influential in the development of the Las Vegas Strip and helped shape the city's gambling industry.
Benny Leonard (1896-1947), also known as "The Ghetto Wizard," was a famous American professional boxer who held the lightweight championship from 1917 to 1925. He was regarded as one of the greatest lightweight boxers of all time.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Benny
People
Benny + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Benny 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
Benny: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Benny?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 29,550 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Benny 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 11,599 US residents.
Is Benny a common name?
We classify Benny as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 48,814 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Benny most popular?
The single biggest year for Benny was 1948, when 1,074 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Benny is about 58 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Benny a male name?
Yes, 98.7% of people registered as Benny 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.
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.