Ben — #801 US boys' name

What the Data Says About Ben

The Social Security Administration has registered 85,049 babies named Ben between 1880 and 2024, spanning 145 consecutive years of U.S. birth records. As a boy's name, Ben currently holds the #801 rank among boys for 2024. The name reached its historical peak in 1918, when 1,276 babies received it in a single year.

Decade-level aggregation shows that Ben performed strongest in the 1920s, accumulating 10,610 births during that ten-year window. Across the 15 decades of recorded activity, Ben shows a clear decline from its mid-century high. Geographically, the name is most concentrated in Texas, which accounts for 7,911 births — the largest state-level total in the dataset — followed by California and New York. In total, SSA state-level files list Ben in 47 of the 51 U.S. reporting jurisdictions.

No etymological entry is currently available for Ben in our reference dataset. These figures derive from SSA's annual national and state-level name files, which include any name appearing at least five times in a given year or state-year; names below that threshold are suppressed for privacy and therefore excluded from the totals shown here. The 85,049 total represents a lower bound — actual usage may be higher in years or states where the count fell below the disclosure floor. This page is provided for informational and research purposes only and does not constitute personal, legal, or naming advice.