Benji
Benji was given to 142 boys in 2025, #1,341 among boys’ names; 2,348 Americans have been recorded with it since 1952 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 2,220 Americans named Benji and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (95% of everyone recorded); the median is 16 years old and half are between 5 and 49.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Benji by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Benji mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Benji is “a diminutive of the male given name Benjamin.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Benji?
#1,341 among boys’ names, 2025
Benji rose from #2,358 in 2015 to #1,341 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 28.7 to 83.1 per million.
176 babies in 1975, the peak
Benji peaked in 1975, when 176 babies were given it (168 boys, #623 among boys’ names). The 142 births of 2025 are 81% of that peak.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 142 | #1,341 | 0.08 |
| 2024 | 105 | #1,622 | 0.06 |
| 2023 | 108 | #1,610 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 130 | #1,414 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 82 | #1,870 | 0.05 |
| 2020 | 103 | #1,579 | 0.06 |
| 2019 | 76 | #1,939 | 0.04 |
| 2018 | 73 | #1,993 | 0.04 |
| 2017 | 66 | #2,092 | 0.04 |
| 2016 | 49 | #2,558 | 0.03 |
Every recorded year (72)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 55 | #2,358 | 0.03 |
| 2014 | 44 | #2,711 | 0.02 |
| 2013 | 29 | #3,588 | 0.02 |
| 2012 | 19 | #4,877 | 0.01 |
| 2011 | 19 | #4,836 | 0.01 |
| 2010 | 24 | #4,113 | 0.01 |
| 2009 | 19 | #4,941 | 0.01 |
| 2008 | 14 | #6,101 | 0.01 |
| 2007 | 17 | #5,227 | 0.01 |
| 2006 | 16 | #5,329 | 0.01 |
| 2005 | 16 | #5,060 | 0.01 |
| 2004 | 8 | #8,212 | under 0.01 |
| 2003 | 11 | #6,299 | 0.01 |
| 2002 | 12 | #5,757 | 0.01 |
| 2001 | 8 | #7,598 | under 0.01 |
| 2000 | 16 | #4,595 | 0.01 |
| 1999 | 5 | #10,063 | under 0.01 |
| 1998 | 9 | #6,364 | under 0.01 |
| 1997 | 6 | #8,226 | under 0.01 |
| 1996 | 8 | #6,552 | under 0.01 |
| 1995 | 8 | #6,460 | under 0.01 |
| 1994 | 9 | #5,905 | under 0.01 |
| 1993 | 10 | #5,386 | 0.01 |
| 1992 | 11 | #4,894 | 0.01 |
| 1991 | 9 | #5,552 | under 0.01 |
| 1990 | 12 | #4,432 | 0.01 |
| 1989 | 6 | #7,029 | under 0.01 |
| 1988 | 13 | #3,721 | 0.01 |
| 1987 | 8 | #5,008 | under 0.01 |
| 1986 | 7 | #5,386 | under 0.01 |
| 1985 | 5 | #6,615 | under 0.01 |
| 1984 | 15 | #2,969 | 0.01 |
| 1983 | 15 | #2,931 | 0.01 |
| 1982 | 15 | #2,986 | 0.01 |
| 1981 | 33 | #1,728 | 0.02 |
| 1980 | 40 | #1,524 | 0.02 |
| 1979 | 42 | #1,437 | 0.02 |
| 1978 | 64 | #1,087 | 0.04 |
| 1977 | 82 | #937 | 0.05 |
| 1976 | 96 | #850 | 0.06 |
| 1975 | 168 | #623 | 0.11 |
| 1974 | 53 | #1,124 | 0.03 |
| 1973 | 17 | #2,318 | 0.01 |
| 1972 | 21 | #1,977 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 11 | #2,988 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 12 | #2,746 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 16 | #2,137 | 0.01 |
| 1968 | 18 | #1,897 | 0.01 |
| 1967 | 9 | #2,790 | 0.01 |
| 1966 | 14 | #2,140 | 0.01 |
| 1965 | 17 | #1,920 | 0.01 |
| 1964 | 16 | #2,044 | 0.01 |
| 1963 | 18 | #1,903 | 0.01 |
| 1962 | 17 | #1,971 | 0.01 |
| 1961 | 10 | #2,723 | under 0.01 |
| 1960 | 15 | #2,133 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 15 | #2,118 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 21 | #1,730 | 0.01 |
| 1957 | 6 | #3,595 | under 0.01 |
| 1956 | 10 | #2,640 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 5 | #3,929 | under 0.01 |
| 1952 | 7 | #3,121 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Benji a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 2,348 Americans recorded as Benji, 3% are girls and 97% boys. In 2025 it went to 142 boys; SSA lists no girls with it that year (fewer than 5, or none).
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Benji: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Benji, and how old are they?
2,220 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 95% of the 2,348 Americans ever recorded as Benji. The median Benji alive today is 16 years old; half are between 5 and 49.
The 2020 Census counted 2,191 people named Benji (148 women and girls, 2,043 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,603 born in the U.S. The Census count is 37% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 113 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 646 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 174 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 216 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,070 |
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 Benji born?
The states with the most babies named Benji are California, Texas and Georgia, with 44% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 204 | #961 | 0.8× |
| Texas | 70 | #1,565 | 0.3× |
| Georgia | 48 | not ranked | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 48 | #856 | 0.5× |
| Florida | 47 | #1,873 | 0.4× |
| Ohio | 44 | #756 | 0.4× |
| North Carolina | 37 | #1,159 | 0.5× |
| Louisiana | 35 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Washington | 31 | #915 | 0.6× |
| New York | 29 | not ranked | 0.2× |
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 Benji 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 3,663 babies since 1880, Benji is the most given (64% of them). In 2025 it was given to 142 of their 155 babies (92%), 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.
More about Benji and names like it
- Compare Benji and BenjieBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1970sBenji peaked in 1975.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Benji since 1910.
- The top names of 1975The year the most babies were named Benji.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Benji alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with BMost given first.