Ben
Ben was given to 292 boys in 2025, #843 among boys’ names; 85,816 Americans have been recorded with it since 1880 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 38,200 Americans named Ben and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (45% of everyone recorded); the median is 51 years old and half are between 27 and 67.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Ben by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Ben mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Ben is “a shortening of the male given name Benjamin or, less often, of Benedict.”
/bɛn/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Ben?
#843 among boys’ names, 2025
Ben fell from #736 in 2015 to #843 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born held at 0.17 per 1,000.
1,293 babies in 1918, the peak
Ben peaked in 1918, when 1,293 babies were given it (1,276 boys, #128 among boys’ names). The 292 births of 2025 are 23% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 292 | #843 | 0.17 |
| 2024 | 314 | #800 | 0.18 |
| 2023 | 311 | #797 | 0.18 |
| 2022 | 330 | #765 | 0.19 |
| 2021 | 327 | #765 | 0.19 |
| 2020 | 313 | #768 | 0.18 |
| 2019 | 339 | #720 | 0.19 |
| 2018 | 351 | #692 | 0.19 |
| 2017 | 327 | #732 | 0.18 |
| 2016 | 354 | #698 | 0.19 |
Every recorded year (146)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 331 | #736 | 0.17 |
| 2014 | 336 | #718 | 0.17 |
| 2013 | 310 | #746 | 0.16 |
| 2012 | 311 | #743 | 0.16 |
| 2011 | 344 | #687 | 0.18 |
| 2010 | 337 | #692 | 0.18 |
| 2009 | 389 | #644 | 0.20 |
| 2008 | 405 | #613 | 0.20 |
| 2007 | 409 | #611 | 0.20 |
| 2006 | 455 | #551 | 0.22 |
| 2005 | 447 | #541 | 0.22 |
| 2004 | 454 | #526 | 0.23 |
| 2003 | 440 | #528 | 0.22 |
| 2002 | 408 | #542 | 0.21 |
| 2001 | 394 | #546 | 0.20 |
| 2000 | 376 | #559 | 0.19 |
| 1999 | 391 | #532 | 0.20 |
| 1998 | 353 | #559 | 0.18 |
| 1997 | 372 | #534 | 0.20 |
| 1996 | 315 | #578 | 0.17 |
| 1995 | 322 | #568 | 0.17 |
| 1994 | 292 | #612 | 0.15 |
| 1993 | 333 | #556 | 0.17 |
| 1992 | 358 | #535 | 0.18 |
| 1991 | 352 | #540 | 0.17 |
| 1990 | 367 | #514 | 0.18 |
| 1989 | 437 | #450 | 0.22 |
| 1988 | 430 | #435 | 0.22 |
| 1987 | 426 | #424 | 0.23 |
| 1986 | 431 | #411 | 0.23 |
| 1985 | 428 | #411 | 0.23 |
| 1984 | 444 | #386 | 0.25 |
| 1983 | 431 | #386 | 0.24 |
| 1982 | 436 | #387 | 0.24 |
| 1981 | 522 | #344 | 0.29 |
| 1980 | 518 | #349 | 0.29 |
| 1979 | 549 | #333 | 0.32 |
| 1978 | 572 | #311 | 0.35 |
| 1977 | 626 | #307 | 0.38 |
| 1976 | 590 | #303 | 0.38 |
| 1975 | 603 | #307 | 0.39 |
| 1974 | 541 | #325 | 0.34 |
| 1973 | 535 | #324 | 0.34 |
| 1972 | 591 | #310 | 0.36 |
| 1971 | 578 | #322 | 0.33 |
| 1970 | 620 | #316 | 0.33 |
| 1969 | 578 | #320 | 0.32 |
| 1968 | 630 | #299 | 0.36 |
| 1967 | 553 | #317 | 0.32 |
| 1966 | 683 | #282 | 0.38 |
| 1965 | 727 | #276 | 0.39 |
| 1964 | 870 | #260 | 0.44 |
| 1963 | 945 | #249 | 0.47 |
| 1962 | 1,044 | #238 | 0.50 |
| 1961 | 934 | #257 | 0.44 |
| 1960 | 954 | #257 | 0.45 |
| 1959 | 933 | #261 | 0.44 |
| 1958 | 878 | #261 | 0.41 |
| 1957 | 855 | #258 | 0.40 |
| 1956 | 739 | #268 | 0.35 |
| 1955 | 735 | #253 | 0.36 |
| 1954 | 753 | #256 | 0.37 |
| 1953 | 746 | #251 | 0.38 |
| 1952 | 718 | #255 | 0.37 |
| 1951 | 687 | #255 | 0.36 |
| 1950 | 721 | #250 | 0.40 |
| 1949 | 761 | #234 | 0.43 |
| 1948 | 874 | #214 | 0.50 |
| 1947 | 887 | #215 | 0.48 |
| 1946 | 819 | #210 | 0.50 |
| 1945 | 717 | #201 | 0.53 |
| 1944 | 753 | #199 | 0.55 |
| 1943 | 835 | #192 | 0.59 |
| 1942 | 852 | #186 | 0.62 |
| 1941 | 767 | #190 | 0.62 |
| 1940 | 814 | #178 | 0.70 |
| 1939 | 709 | #189 | 0.64 |
| 1938 | 846 | #172 | 0.76 |
| 1937 | 814 | #175 | 0.76 |
| 1936 | 815 | #169 | 0.79 |
| 1935 | 891 | #161 | 0.86 |
| 1934 | 831 | #169 | 0.80 |
| 1933 | 868 | #163 | 0.88 |
| 1932 | 965 | #156 | 0.92 |
| 1931 | 912 | #163 | 0.88 |
| 1930 | 987 | #154 | 0.90 |
| 1929 | 957 | #159 | 0.89 |
| 1928 | 987 | #156 | 0.89 |
| 1927 | 1,011 | #156 | 0.90 |
| 1926 | 1,013 | #155 | 0.91 |
| 1925 | 1,041 | #153 | 0.93 |
| 1924 | 1,170 | #141 | 1.0 |
| 1923 | 1,049 | #148 | 1.0 |
| 1922 | 1,120 | #139 | 1.0 |
| 1921 | 1,124 | #139 | 1.0 |
| 1920 | 1,138 | #137 | 1.1 |
| 1919 | 1,215 | #126 | 1.2 |
| 1918 | 1,276 | #128 | 1.3 |
| 1917 | 1,128 | #129 | 1.2 |
| 1916 | 1,191 | #119 | 1.3 |
| 1915 | 1,263 | #113 | 1.5 |
| 1914 | 1,005 | #110 | 1.5 |
| 1913 | 809 | #108 | 1.6 |
| 1912 | 731 | #102 | 1.7 |
| 1911 | 467 | #86 | 2.1 |
| 1910 | 454 | #79 | 2.3 |
| 1909 | 358 | #84 | 2.2 |
| 1908 | 353 | #78 | 2.3 |
| 1907 | 314 | #82 | 2.1 |
| 1906 | 285 | #82 | 2.1 |
| 1905 | 290 | #84 | 2.2 |
| 1904 | 282 | #83 | 2.2 |
| 1903 | 259 | #81 | 2.2 |
| 1902 | 273 | #79 | 2.2 |
| 1901 | 259 | #73 | 2.4 |
| 1900 | 355 | #73 | 2.4 |
| 1899 | 259 | #73 | 2.4 |
| 1898 | 310 | #69 | 2.5 |
| 1897 | 291 | #65 | 2.6 |
| 1896 | 299 | #69 | 2.5 |
| 1895 | 324 | #63 | 2.8 |
| 1894 | 326 | #62 | 2.8 |
| 1893 | 321 | #62 | 2.9 |
| 1892 | 361 | #60 | 3.0 |
| 1891 | 302 | #61 | 3.0 |
| 1890 | 363 | #54 | 3.3 |
| 1889 | 453 | #43 | 4.1 |
| 1888 | 463 | #47 | 3.8 |
| 1887 | 305 | #58 | 3.0 |
| 1886 | 335 | #56 | 3.0 |
| 1885 | 292 | #62 | 2.7 |
| 1884 | 367 | #52 | 3.2 |
| 1883 | 306 | #56 | 2.9 |
| 1882 | 334 | #55 | 2.9 |
| 1881 | 289 | #56 | 2.9 |
| 1880 | 305 | #58 | 2.8 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Ben a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Ben has been given almost only to boys: 467 girls in 146 years of records.
Girls and boys named Ben: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Ben, and how old are they?
38,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 45% of the 85,816 Americans ever recorded as Ben. The median Ben alive today is 51 years old; half are between 27 and 67.
The 2020 Census counted 107,539 people named Ben (392 women and girls, 107,147 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 40,899 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.6 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Ben rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 2,820 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 10,600 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 8,400 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 6,010 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 6,180 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 4,200 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Ben born?
The states with the most babies named Ben are Texas, California and New York, with 25% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 7,963 | #879 | 1.6× |
| California | 6,078 | #755 | 1.1× |
| New York | 3,633 | #450 | 0.6× |
| Georgia | 3,532 | #1,001 | 1.6× |
| Tennessee | 2,861 | not ranked | 1.6× |
| Illinois | 2,820 | #1,309 | 0.7× |
| North Carolina | 2,792 | #1,295 | 1.2× |
| South Carolina | 2,643 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Alabama | 2,610 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Mississippi | 2,565 | not ranked | 2.0× |
Where Ben is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Ben is most over-represented in New Mexico: since 1910 it was given 2.2 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Ben with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 3 names spelled alike, given to 86,283 babies since 1880, Ben is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 292 of their 292 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Ben
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Ben and names like it
- Compare Ben and BennBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sBen peaked in 1918.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Ben since 1910.
- The top names of 1918The year the most babies were named Ben.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Ben alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.