Benedict
Benedict was given to 305 boys in 2025, #814 among boys’ names; 10,475 Americans have been recorded with it since 1882 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 6,520 Americans named Benedict and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (62% of everyone recorded); the median is 21 years old and half are between 8 and 54.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Benedict by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Benedict mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Benedict is “a male given name from Latin, particularly of the sixth-century founder of the Benedictine order, and of several popes.” Its etymology gives the senses “blessed, well spoken of” (benedictus) and “to bless, to speak well of” (benedīcō).
From Saint Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Order, from Late Latin Benedictus, from benedictus (“blessed, well spoken of”), from Latin benedīcō (“to bless, to speak well of”). Doublet of Bennett, Benoit, and Benito.
/ˈbɛnədɪkt/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Benedict?
#814 among boys’ names, 2025
Benedict rose from #1,205 in 2015 to #814 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 0.08 to 0.18 per 1,000.
305 babies in 2025, the peak
Benedict peaked in 2025, when 305 boys were given it, #814 among boys’ names. In 2024 it went to 256 boys.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 305 | #814 | 0.18 |
| 2024 | 256 | #914 | 0.15 |
| 2023 | 245 | #929 | 0.14 |
| 2022 | 234 | #967 | 0.13 |
| 2021 | 220 | #996 | 0.13 |
| 2020 | 187 | #1,069 | 0.11 |
| 2019 | 179 | #1,102 | 0.10 |
| 2018 | 210 | #985 | 0.12 |
| 2017 | 169 | #1,129 | 0.09 |
| 2016 | 152 | #1,229 | 0.08 |
Every recorded year (140)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 153 | #1,205 | 0.08 |
| 2014 | 140 | #1,272 | 0.07 |
| 2013 | 109 | #1,493 | 0.06 |
| 2012 | 87 | #1,728 | 0.05 |
| 2011 | 58 | #2,233 | 0.03 |
| 2010 | 87 | #1,740 | 0.05 |
| 2009 | 85 | #1,774 | 0.04 |
| 2008 | 101 | #1,573 | 0.05 |
| 2007 | 89 | #1,700 | 0.04 |
| 2006 | 130 | #1,284 | 0.06 |
| 2005 | 158 | #1,047 | 0.08 |
| 2004 | 54 | #2,161 | 0.03 |
| 2003 | 58 | #1,985 | 0.03 |
| 2002 | 57 | #1,942 | 0.03 |
| 2001 | 51 | #2,051 | 0.03 |
| 2000 | 61 | #1,780 | 0.03 |
| 1999 | 54 | #1,822 | 0.03 |
| 1998 | 60 | #1,699 | 0.03 |
| 1997 | 49 | #1,889 | 0.03 |
| 1996 | 57 | #1,669 | 0.03 |
| 1995 | 46 | #1,861 | 0.02 |
| 1994 | 40 | #2,042 | 0.02 |
| 1993 | 61 | #1,508 | 0.03 |
| 1992 | 36 | #2,127 | 0.02 |
| 1991 | 43 | #1,823 | 0.02 |
| 1990 | 47 | #1,700 | 0.02 |
| 1989 | 54 | #1,514 | 0.03 |
| 1988 | 59 | #1,337 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 58 | #1,282 | 0.03 |
| 1986 | 62 | #1,216 | 0.03 |
| 1985 | 47 | #1,430 | 0.03 |
| 1984 | 45 | #1,424 | 0.02 |
| 1983 | 53 | #1,264 | 0.03 |
| 1982 | 42 | #1,487 | 0.02 |
| 1981 | 55 | #1,237 | 0.03 |
| 1980 | 55 | #1,239 | 0.03 |
| 1979 | 44 | #1,408 | 0.03 |
| 1978 | 46 | #1,352 | 0.03 |
| 1977 | 49 | #1,269 | 0.03 |
| 1976 | 45 | #1,320 | 0.03 |
| 1975 | 50 | #1,193 | 0.03 |
| 1974 | 40 | #1,352 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 44 | #1,240 | 0.03 |
| 1972 | 52 | #1,130 | 0.03 |
| 1971 | 39 | #1,353 | 0.02 |
| 1970 | 43 | #1,262 | 0.02 |
| 1969 | 45 | #1,170 | 0.03 |
| 1968 | 57 | #971 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 65 | #894 | 0.04 |
| 1966 | 60 | #938 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 65 | #920 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 78 | #860 | 0.04 |
| 1963 | 82 | #839 | 0.04 |
| 1962 | 90 | #798 | 0.04 |
| 1961 | 86 | #824 | 0.04 |
| 1960 | 80 | #844 | 0.04 |
| 1959 | 89 | #807 | 0.04 |
| 1958 | 92 | #776 | 0.04 |
| 1957 | 85 | #817 | 0.04 |
| 1956 | 85 | #808 | 0.04 |
| 1955 | 64 | #932 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 75 | #832 | 0.04 |
| 1953 | 94 | #737 | 0.05 |
| 1952 | 64 | #878 | 0.03 |
| 1951 | 86 | #748 | 0.05 |
| 1950 | 96 | #700 | 0.05 |
| 1949 | 81 | #764 | 0.05 |
| 1948 | 79 | #760 | 0.05 |
| 1947 | 102 | #685 | 0.06 |
| 1946 | 71 | #787 | 0.04 |
| 1945 | 68 | #743 | 0.05 |
| 1944 | 74 | #721 | 0.05 |
| 1943 | 74 | #752 | 0.05 |
| 1942 | 92 | #674 | 0.07 |
| 1941 | 71 | #734 | 0.06 |
| 1940 | 63 | #782 | 0.05 |
| 1939 | 68 | #726 | 0.06 |
| 1938 | 72 | #719 | 0.06 |
| 1937 | 67 | #743 | 0.06 |
| 1936 | 63 | #767 | 0.06 |
| 1935 | 58 | #816 | 0.06 |
| 1934 | 74 | #710 | 0.07 |
| 1933 | 65 | #757 | 0.07 |
| 1932 | 73 | #729 | 0.07 |
| 1931 | 67 | #758 | 0.06 |
| 1930 | 89 | #655 | 0.08 |
| 1929 | 105 | #588 | 0.10 |
| 1928 | 98 | #617 | 0.09 |
| 1927 | 102 | #619 | 0.09 |
| 1926 | 115 | #573 | 0.10 |
| 1925 | 104 | #615 | 0.09 |
| 1924 | 114 | #594 | 0.10 |
| 1923 | 104 | #625 | 0.09 |
| 1922 | 140 | #526 | 0.13 |
| 1921 | 135 | #537 | 0.12 |
| 1920 | 127 | #545 | 0.12 |
| 1919 | 119 | #548 | 0.12 |
| 1918 | 163 | #462 | 0.16 |
| 1917 | 152 | #460 | 0.16 |
| 1916 | 146 | #475 | 0.16 |
| 1915 | 133 | #482 | 0.16 |
| 1914 | 115 | #447 | 0.18 |
| 1913 | 51 | #615 | 0.10 |
| 1912 | 46 | #599 | 0.11 |
| 1911 | 25 | #607 | 0.11 |
| 1910 | 29 | #525 | 0.15 |
| 1909 | 12 | #845 | 0.07 |
| 1908 | 11 | #829 | 0.07 |
| 1907 | 19 | #560 | 0.13 |
| 1906 | 15 | #617 | 0.11 |
| 1905 | 13 | #669 | 0.10 |
| 1904 | 18 | #519 | 0.14 |
| 1903 | 11 | #702 | 0.09 |
| 1902 | 5 | #1,158 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 7 | #863 | 0.07 |
| 1900 | 11 | #788 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 6 | #945 | 0.06 |
| 1898 | 8 | #807 | 0.07 |
| 1897 | 6 | #947 | 0.05 |
| 1896 | 12 | #645 | 0.10 |
| 1895 | 8 | #804 | 0.07 |
| 1894 | 7 | #866 | 0.06 |
| 1892 | 9 | #753 | 0.07 |
| 1891 | 6 | #849 | 0.06 |
| 1890 | 10 | #633 | 0.09 |
| 1889 | 7 | #801 | 0.06 |
| 1886 | 7 | #770 | 0.06 |
| 1885 | 12 | #551 | 0.11 |
| 1883 | 5 | #904 | 0.05 |
| 1882 | 8 | #707 | 0.07 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Benedict a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Benedict has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 140 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Benedict: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Benedict, and how old are they?
6,520 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 62% of the 10,475 Americans ever recorded as Benedict. The median Benedict alive today is 21 years old; half are between 8 and 54.
The 2020 Census counted 6,647 people named Benedict (75 women and girls, 6,572 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 5,547 born in the U.S. The Census count is 20% above that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 250 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 1,040 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 702 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 764 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 1,220 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 2,540 |
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 Benedict born?
The states with the most babies named Benedict are Texas, Minnesota and Ohio, with 26% of its births recorded by state in 2025; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 30 | #857 | 0.4× |
| Minnesota | 21 | #292 | 1.8× |
| Ohio | 16 | #596 | 0.5× |
| Virginia | 14 | #528 | 0.6× |
| Michigan | 13 | #605 | 0.8× |
| Pennsylvania | 11 | #747 | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 11 | #758 | 0.9× |
| Wisconsin | 11 | #442 | 1.1× |
| Indiana | 11 | #588 | 0.4× |
| Kansas | 11 | #326 | 0.6× |
Where Benedict is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Benedict is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 1.8 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 Benedict 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 2 names spelled alike, given to 10,530 babies since 1880, Benedict is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 305 of their 305 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 Benedict
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 Benedict and names like it
- Compare Benedict and BenediktBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sBenedict peaked in 2025.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Benedict since 1910.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Benedict.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Benedict alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with BMost given first.