Bentlee
Blend of the names Ben, meaning "son" and Lee, meaning "meadow".
Name Census estimates that about 4,979 living Americans carry the first name Bentlee. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.9% of registrations being male. The average person named Bentlee today is around 11 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bentlee births was 2012 (533 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bentlee. 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
- • Bentlee is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 11 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
5.0K
~ 1 in 68,840 Americans
Peak year
2012
533 babies that year
Average age
11
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,589
Tracked since 2001
Gender
Gender distribution for Bentlee
Bentlee leans heavily male at 81.9% of total registrations, but 910 girls have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Bentlee as a male name
- Ranked #1,589 in 2024
- 108 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2012 (446 births)
Bentlee as a female name
- Ranked #5,803 in 2024
- 21 female births in 2024
- Peak: 2011 (89 births)
Popularity
Bentlee: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bentlee from the 2000s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 3,853 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
Bentlee 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 Bentlee during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bentlees live
The SSA's state-level files cover 34 states and territories. Texas, Ohio, Kentucky recorded the most babies named Bentlee, while Nebraska, Maryland, Arizona recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 107 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bentlee
The name Bentlee is a modern English name that emerged in the late 20th century. It does not have a direct historical origin or linguistic root, but it appears to be a combination of the English names Ben and Lee, which were both popular names in their own right.
Ben is a diminutive form of the name Benjamin, which is derived from the Hebrew name Binyamin, meaning "son of the right hand." The name Benjamin has a long history dating back to biblical times and appears in the Book of Genesis as the name of one of the twelve sons of Jacob. It has been a popular name among Jews and Christians for centuries.
Lee, on the other hand, is a surname that has been used as a given name in English-speaking countries. It is derived from the Old English word "leah," meaning a clearing or meadow. The name Lee has been used as a given name since the Middle Ages and has been particularly popular in the United States.
The combination of these two names, Bentlee, is a relatively recent creation, likely emerging in the late 20th century as a unique and modern name choice. While there are no historical records or famous individuals with this exact name in the past, it is possible that some individuals may have used it as a creative spelling variation or combination of their given names.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bentlee may be Bentlee Elwin, an English footballer who played for various clubs in the early 2000s. Another notable person with this name is Bentlee Riley, an American actress and model born in the late 1990s.
While the name Bentlee does not have a rich historical background or cultural significance, it reflects the modern trend of creating unique and inventive names by combining existing names or elements from different sources. Its popularity may be attributed to its unique sound and the positive associations with the names Ben and Lee.
People
Bentlee + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bentlee 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
Bentlee: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bentlee?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 4,979 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bentlee 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 68,840 US residents.
Is Bentlee a common name?
We classify Bentlee as "Rare". It ranks above 96.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 5,017 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bentlee most popular?
The single biggest year for Bentlee was 2012, when 533 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bentlee is about 11 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Bentlee a male name?
Yes, 81.9% of people registered as Bentlee 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.