Besan
A Hindi name of Sanskrit origin meaning gram flour or chickpea flour.
Name Census estimates that about 115 living Americans carry the first name Besan. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Besan today is around 10 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Besan births was 2014 (17 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Besan. 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 Besan with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
115
~ 1 in 2,980,473 Americans
Peak year
2014
17 babies that year
Average age
10
years old
2024 SSA rank
#11,235
Tracked since 2008
Popularity
Besan: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Besan 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 78 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Besan remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Besan 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 Besan 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 Besan
The name Besan has its origins in the Persian language, derived from the word "besan," which means "sesame." It is believed to have originated during the medieval period in the regions of present-day Iran and Central Asia, where sesame was a significant agricultural crop.
Besan was not a commonly used name in ancient religious texts or historical records. However, there are a few notable individuals throughout history who bore this name or variations of it.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Besan is Besan Dagi, a 13th-century Turkish military commander who served under the Seljuk Sultanate. He played a crucial role in the conquest of Anatolia and the establishment of Turkish rule in the region.
Another historical figure with the name Besan was Besan Daulat Khan, a 17th-century Mughal nobleman and military leader from the Indian subcontinent. He served under the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and was known for his military campaigns against the Maratha Empire.
In the 19th century, Besan Chand was a prominent figure in the state of Bahawalpur, now part of modern-day Pakistan. He served as the Prime Minister of Bahawalpur from 1866 to 1900 and played a significant role in the development of the region.
Moving to more recent times, Besan Singh Ramgarhia was an Indian freedom fighter and social reformer who lived from 1871 to 1942. He was a prominent figure in the Sikh community and worked towards the upliftment of the downtrodden sections of society.
Lastly, Besan Devi was a renowned Indian classical vocalist of the Khyal style of singing, who lived from 1915 to 1993. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honors, for her contributions to music.
While the name Besan may not be as widely known or popular in modern times, it has a rich historical significance, particularly in the regions of Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, and the Middle East, where it was more prevalent in the past.
People
Besan + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Besan 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
Besan: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Besan?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 115 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Besan 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 2,980,473 US residents.
Is Besan a common name?
We classify Besan as "Very Rare". It ranks above 66.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 116 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Besan most popular?
The single biggest year for Besan was 2014, when 17 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Besan is about 10 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
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 Besan in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Besan a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Besan in the SSA data are female. 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 Besan still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Besan 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 Besan 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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How common is the name Besan?
Our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers how many people share the name Besan at a glance, with the living-bearer count up front.