Benuel
Son of God's strength, a Hebrew name of Biblical origins.
Name Census estimates that about 881 living Americans carry the first name Benuel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Benuel today is around 25 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Benuel births was 2021 (33 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Benuel. 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
881
~ 1 in 389,051 Americans
Peak year
2021
33 babies that year
Average age
25
years old
2024 SSA rank
#3,890
Tracked since 1945
Census
Benuel in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 676 people with the first name Benuel, which placed it at #16,618 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
#16,618
National first-name rank
People counted
676
676 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
98.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Benuel
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benuel is White at 98.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.9%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Benuel 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 Benuel at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White98.5% · 666
- Hispanic or Latino0.9% · 6
- Black or African American0.6% · 4
Popularity
Benuel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Benuel from the 1940s through to the 2020s, spanning 9 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 204 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Benuel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Benuel 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 Benuel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Benuels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Benuel
The name Benuel is a Hebrew name with roots in the Old Testament. It is a combination of two Hebrew words: "ben," meaning "son," and "El," which is one of the names for God. Thus, Benuel can be interpreted as "son of God" or "son of the Almighty."
The earliest recorded instance of the name Benuel appears in the Book of Genesis, where it is mentioned as the name of one of the sons of Benjamin, the youngest son of the patriarch Jacob. This biblical reference places the origin of the name Benuel in ancient Israelite culture, dating back to around the 2nd millennium BC.
Throughout history, the name Benuel has been borne by several notable individuals. One of the earliest recorded examples is Benuel of Todi, an Italian Benedictine monk and chronicler who lived in the 12th century. He is best known for his work, "Chronicon," which documented the history of the Benedictine monastery in Todi.
Another notable Benuel was Benuel Saunders (1726-1806), an English architect and surveyor who designed several notable buildings in London, including the Bethlem Royal Hospital and the Foundling Hospital.
In the realm of literature, Benuel is the name of a character in the novel "The Deerslayer" by James Fenimore Cooper, published in 1841. The character is a Native American who plays a significant role in the story.
A more recent example is Benuel Sinfuego (1879-1947), a Filipino revolutionary and general who fought against the American occupation of the Philippines in the early 20th century. He was a prominent figure in the Philippine Revolutionary Army and played a crucial role in the resistance movement.
Lastly, Benuel Termansen (1927-2001) was a Norwegian writer and journalist who gained recognition for his works on polar exploration and the history of Norway's far north regions. His book "Svalbard – Arktiske Utfordringer" (Svalbard – Arctic Challenges) is considered a seminal work on the subject.
These are just a few notable individuals who have borne the name Benuel throughout history, highlighting its enduring presence across various cultures and time periods.
People
Benuel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Benuel 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
Benuel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Benuel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 881 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Benuel 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 389,051 US residents.
Is Benuel a common name?
We classify Benuel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 89.3% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 915 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Benuel most popular?
The single biggest year for Benuel was 2021, when 33 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Benuel is about 25 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Benuel in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 676 people with the name Benuel, or 0.22 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,618 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 Benuel 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 Benuel?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Benuel appears almost entirely male. Of the 676 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Benuel?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Benuel is White at 98.5%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (0.9%) and Black (0.6%). 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 Benuel most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Benuel in the 2020 Census, accounting for 98.5% (666 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 Benuel in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Benuel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Benuel 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 Benuel still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Benuel 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 Benuel 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 Americans are named Benuel?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Benuel at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.