Benita
Benita was given to 11 girls in 2025, #8,951 among girls’ names; 13,669 Americans have been recorded with it since 1889 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 9,920 Americans named Benita and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (73% of everyone recorded); the median is 62 years old and half are between 51 and 69.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Benita by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Benita mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Benita is “a female given name from Spanish.”
Borrowed from Spanish Benita.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Benita?
#8,951 among girls’ names, 2025
Benita fell from #5,864 in 2015 to #8,951 in 2025 among girls’ names; its share of girls born fell from 12.3 to 6.8 per million.
480 babies in 1961, the peak
Benita peaked in 1961, when 480 girls were given it, #445 among girls’ names. The 11 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 11 | #8,951 | 0.01 |
| 2024 | 8 | #11,273 | under 0.01 |
| 2023 | 15 | #7,301 | 0.01 |
| 2022 | 12 | #8,615 | 0.01 |
| 2021 | 20 | #5,982 | 0.01 |
| 2020 | 11 | #9,042 | 0.01 |
| 2019 | 13 | #8,203 | 0.01 |
| 2018 | 11 | #9,248 | 0.01 |
| 2017 | 12 | #8,878 | 0.01 |
| 2016 | 14 | #8,059 | 0.01 |
Every recorded year (133)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 22 | #5,864 | 0.01 |
| 2014 | 15 | #7,720 | 0.01 |
| 2013 | 11 | #9,706 | 0.01 |
| 2012 | 23 | #5,731 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 11 | #9,823 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 17 | #7,259 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 22 | #6,131 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 18 | #7,116 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 25 | #5,554 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 20 | #6,396 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 21 | #5,828 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 21 | #5,777 | 0.01 |
| 2003 | 16 | #6,929 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 28 | #4,392 | 0.02 |
| 2001 | 23 | #5,029 | 0.01 |
| 2000 | 27 | #4,415 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 27 | #4,208 | 0.02 |
| 1998 | 29 | #3,925 | 0.02 |
| 1997 | 37 | #3,163 | 0.02 |
| 1996 | 39 | #3,028 | 0.02 |
| 1995 | 46 | #2,648 | 0.03 |
| 1994 | 46 | #2,659 | 0.03 |
| 1993 | 45 | #2,674 | 0.02 |
| 1992 | 77 | #1,842 | 0.04 |
| 1991 | 66 | #2,052 | 0.04 |
| 1990 | 62 | #2,098 | 0.03 |
| 1989 | 84 | #1,636 | 0.05 |
| 1988 | 60 | #1,983 | 0.03 |
| 1987 | 75 | #1,630 | 0.04 |
| 1986 | 71 | #1,656 | 0.04 |
| 1985 | 93 | #1,381 | 0.05 |
| 1984 | 89 | #1,351 | 0.05 |
| 1983 | 98 | #1,266 | 0.06 |
| 1982 | 126 | #1,118 | 0.07 |
| 1981 | 127 | #1,093 | 0.08 |
| 1980 | 126 | #1,097 | 0.08 |
| 1979 | 138 | #1,019 | 0.09 |
| 1978 | 136 | #1,001 | 0.09 |
| 1977 | 158 | #898 | 0.10 |
| 1976 | 136 | #939 | 0.09 |
| 1975 | 161 | #833 | 0.11 |
| 1974 | 156 | #842 | 0.11 |
| 1973 | 172 | #778 | 0.12 |
| 1972 | 209 | #695 | 0.14 |
| 1971 | 219 | #695 | 0.13 |
| 1970 | 286 | #606 | 0.16 |
| 1969 | 278 | #594 | 0.16 |
| 1968 | 278 | #575 | 0.17 |
| 1967 | 302 | #542 | 0.18 |
| 1966 | 311 | #535 | 0.18 |
| 1965 | 377 | #487 | 0.21 |
| 1964 | 371 | #510 | 0.20 |
| 1963 | 399 | #487 | 0.21 |
| 1962 | 449 | #454 | 0.23 |
| 1961 | 480 | #445 | 0.24 |
| 1960 | 475 | #447 | 0.23 |
| 1959 | 394 | #489 | 0.19 |
| 1958 | 345 | #522 | 0.17 |
| 1957 | 317 | #537 | 0.16 |
| 1956 | 283 | #556 | 0.14 |
| 1955 | 315 | #520 | 0.16 |
| 1954 | 297 | #516 | 0.15 |
| 1953 | 250 | #551 | 0.13 |
| 1952 | 243 | #551 | 0.13 |
| 1951 | 255 | #517 | 0.14 |
| 1950 | 190 | #605 | 0.11 |
| 1949 | 184 | #606 | 0.11 |
| 1948 | 163 | #651 | 0.10 |
| 1947 | 127 | #763 | 0.07 |
| 1946 | 122 | #733 | 0.08 |
| 1945 | 88 | #804 | 0.07 |
| 1944 | 86 | #821 | 0.06 |
| 1943 | 88 | #830 | 0.06 |
| 1942 | 84 | #832 | 0.06 |
| 1941 | 96 | #719 | 0.08 |
| 1940 | 79 | #797 | 0.07 |
| 1939 | 98 | #688 | 0.09 |
| 1938 | 92 | #713 | 0.08 |
| 1937 | 112 | #640 | 0.11 |
| 1936 | 134 | #564 | 0.13 |
| 1935 | 124 | #578 | 0.12 |
| 1934 | 123 | #587 | 0.12 |
| 1933 | 132 | #553 | 0.13 |
| 1932 | 79 | #760 | 0.07 |
| 1931 | 97 | #678 | 0.09 |
| 1930 | 78 | #801 | 0.07 |
| 1929 | 88 | #747 | 0.08 |
| 1928 | 71 | #864 | 0.06 |
| 1927 | 68 | #904 | 0.06 |
| 1926 | 82 | #801 | 0.07 |
| 1925 | 56 | #996 | 0.05 |
| 1924 | 81 | #829 | 0.06 |
| 1923 | 64 | #913 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 51 | #1,060 | 0.04 |
| 1921 | 50 | #1,073 | 0.04 |
| 1920 | 57 | #969 | 0.05 |
| 1919 | 64 | #876 | 0.06 |
| 1918 | 69 | #863 | 0.06 |
| 1917 | 50 | #986 | 0.05 |
| 1916 | 45 | #1,030 | 0.04 |
| 1915 | 49 | #946 | 0.05 |
| 1914 | 40 | #933 | 0.05 |
| 1913 | 26 | #1,071 | 0.04 |
| 1912 | 30 | #921 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 30 | #790 | 0.07 |
| 1910 | 19 | #1,001 | 0.05 |
| 1909 | 12 | #1,226 | 0.03 |
| 1908 | 14 | #1,092 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,654 | 0.02 |
| 1906 | 12 | #1,104 | 0.04 |
| 1905 | 14 | #1,019 | 0.05 |
| 1904 | 9 | #1,268 | 0.03 |
| 1902 | 10 | #1,138 | 0.04 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,706 | 0.02 |
| 1900 | 9 | #1,329 | 0.03 |
| 1898 | 8 | #1,270 | 0.03 |
| 1897 | 7 | #1,273 | 0.03 |
| 1896 | 7 | #1,301 | 0.03 |
| 1893 | 5 | #1,461 | 0.02 |
| 1892 | 6 | #1,293 | 0.03 |
| 1891 | 7 | #1,106 | 0.04 |
| 1890 | 6 | #1,224 | 0.03 |
| 1889 | 5 | #1,304 | 0.03 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Benita a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Benita has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 133 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Benita: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Benita, and how old are they?
9,920 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 73% of the 13,669 Americans ever recorded as Benita. The median Benita alive today is 62 years old; half are between 51 and 69.
The 2020 Census counted 14,084 people named Benita (14,050 women and girls, 34 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 10,640 born in the U.S. The Census count is 32% 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 | 511 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 4,530 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 3,170 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 1,170 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 361 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 174 |
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 Benita born?
The states with the most babies named Benita are Texas, California and Illinois, with 39% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 2,129 | not ranked | 2.5× |
| California | 921 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Illinois | 696 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| New York | 656 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| North Carolina | 465 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Alabama | 438 | not ranked | 1.5× |
| Georgia | 423 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| Ohio | 406 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Pennsylvania | 347 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Virginia | 337 | not ranked | 1.1× |
Where Benita is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Benita is most over-represented in Texas: since 1910 it was given 2.5 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 girls’ 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 Benita 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 14,107 babies since 1880, Benita is the most given (97% of them).
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 Benita
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 Benita and names like it
- Compare Benita and BenettaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sBenita peaked in 1961.
- Texas’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Benita since 1910.
- Spanish namesWiktionary’s origin for Benita: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1961The year the most babies were named Benita.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Benita alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.