Veniamin
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "son of the right hand".
Name Census estimates that about 88 living Americans carry the first name Veniamin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Veniamin today is around 23 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Veniamin births was 1999 (14 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Veniamin. 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
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Veniamin. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
88
~ 1 in 3,894,936 Americans
Peak year
1999
14 babies that year
Average age
23
years old
2023 SSA rank
#14,040
Tracked since 1997
Popularity
Veniamin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Veniamin from the 1990s through to the 2020s, spanning 3 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 54 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 2000s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Veniamin 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 Veniamin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Veniamins live
Origin
Meaning and history of Veniamin
The name Veniamin has its origins in the Hebrew language and culture, tracing back to ancient times. It is derived from the Hebrew name "Binyamin," which means "son of the right hand" or "son of the south." This name was borne by one of the twelve sons of Jacob in the biblical Book of Genesis.
In the context of the Bible, Binyamin was the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel, and the progenitor of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The tribe of Benjamin played a significant role in the history of ancient Israel, and the name Veniamin has been associated with this tribe throughout the ages.
The name Veniamin appeared in various ancient texts and religious scriptures, including the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible), and the New Testament. It was also found in early Christian writings, as some early Christian saints bore this name.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Veniamin was Saint Veniamin of Petropavlovsk (1768-1831), a Russian Orthodox monk and missionary who helped spread Christianity in Alaska and the Aleutian Islands. Another notable figure was Veniamin Maslennikov (1833-1907), a Russian composer and music teacher.
In the Byzantine Empire, Veniamin I (c. 1340-1416) was a prominent Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1393 to 1416. He played a crucial role in the theological disputes of his time and in the establishment of the Orthodox Church in Russia.
Moving forward in history, Veniamin Kaverin (1902-1989) was a renowned Russian writer and literary critic, best known for his novels "The Two Captains" and "The Scandalist." Veniamin Yerofeyev (1938-1990) was another influential Russian writer and journalist, whose satirical works critiqued the Soviet system.
Finally, Veniamin Kondratiev (1888-1956) was a Russian economist and theorist who developed the theory of long-term economic cycles, known as the "Kondratiev waves" or "Kondratiev cycles." His work had a significant impact on the field of economics and the study of economic fluctuations.
People
Veniamin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Veniamin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with V
Other first names starting with V with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Veniamin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Veniamin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 88 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Veniamin 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 3,894,936 US residents.
Is Veniamin a common name?
We classify Veniamin as "Very Rare". It ranks above 62.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 89 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Veniamin most popular?
The single biggest year for Veniamin was 1999, when 14 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Veniamin is about 23 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Veniamin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Veniamin 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.