Benson
Derived from an Old English surname meaning "son of Benne".
Name Census estimates that about 11,637 living Americans carry the first name Benson. It sits at #435 in the overall ranking, outside the top 50 but still well-represented. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Benson today is around 20 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Benson births was 2024 (735 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Benson. 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 Benson with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
12K
~ 1 in 29,454 Americans
Peak year
2024
735 babies that year
Average age
20
years old
2024 SSA rank
#435
Tracked since 1887
Census
Benson in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,703 people with the first name Benson, which placed it at #2,508 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
#2,508
National first-name rank
People counted
9.7K
9,703 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
57.3% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Benson
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benson is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.4%) and Black (12.4%). 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 Benson 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 Benson at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White57.3% · 5,564
- Asian and Pacific Islander19.4% · 1,882
- Black or African American12.4% · 1,207
- Hispanic or Latino5.2% · 502
- Two or more races3.8% · 370
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 178
Gender
Gender distribution for Benson
Out of the 13,113 babies given the name Benson since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Benson as a male name
- Ranked #435 in 2024
- 727 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2016 (729 births)
Benson as a female name
- Ranked #11,231 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2024 (8 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benson appears almost entirely male. Of the 9,711 people counted with this name, 99.5% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Benson: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Benson from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 5,158 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Benson remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Benson 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 Benson during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bensons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 42 states and territories. California, Utah, New York recorded the most babies named Benson, while Mississippi, Montana, Maine recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 213 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Benson
The name Benson has its origins in the Old English language, derived from the words "ben" meaning "bean" and "son" meaning "son." This combination suggests that the name originally referred to "the son of a bean farmer" or someone associated with the cultivation of beans. The name emerged in England during the Anglo-Saxon period, which lasted from the 5th to the 11th centuries.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Benson can be traced back to the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of land ownership and property rights in England compiled in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror. The name appears in various spellings, such as "Bensun" and "Benson," indicating its widespread use at the time.
One of the earliest notable figures bearing the name Benson was Saint Benson, an English Catholic martyr who was executed in 1590 for his refusal to renounce his faith during the English Reformation. He was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1970.
In the realm of literature, the name Benson gained prominence through the works of Arthur Christopher Benson (1862-1925), an English essayist, poet, and author best known for his autobiographical works, including "The Leaves of the Tree" and "The House of Quiet."
Another notable bearer of the name was Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940), an English novelist and biographer, and the elder brother of E.F. Benson. He is best known for his biographical works on figures such as Queen Victoria and Alwyn Carr.
In the field of astronomy, William Samuel Benson (1855-1932) was an English amateur astronomer who made significant contributions to the study of variable stars and double stars. He was also a prolific writer on astronomical topics.
Frank Weston Benson (1862-1951) was an American Impressionist painter and a member of the Ten American Painters group. He is renowned for his works depicting scenes of daily life, particularly those featuring children and coastal landscapes.
These are just a few examples of individuals who have borne the name Benson throughout history, reflecting its longevity and enduring presence across various fields and cultures.
People
Benson + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Benson 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
Benson: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Benson?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 11,637 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Benson 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 29,454 US residents.
Is Benson a common name?
We classify Benson as "Uncommon". It ranks above 97.9% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 13,113 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Benson most popular?
The single biggest year for Benson was 2024, when 735 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Benson is about 20 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Benson in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,703 people with the name Benson, or 3.21 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,508 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 Benson 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 Benson?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benson appears almost entirely male. Of the 9,711 people counted with this name, 99.5% 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 Benson?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benson is White at 57.3%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (19.4%) and Black (12.4%). 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 Benson most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Benson in the 2020 Census, accounting for 57.3% (5,564 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 Benson in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Benson a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Benson 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 Benson still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Benson 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 Benson 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 Benson?
For a quick modern take, check how many Americans are named Benson on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.