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Boy · English short form of a Hebrew name
Ben
Say it: BEN
Meaning
A short form of Benjamin, from Hebrew Binyamin 'son of the right hand' or 'son of the south'; also of Benedict.
Likelythe main view, with some doubt.
Common as a full name since the 1800s and popular again today.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1880s
In the United States
- 84,203 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1889, about 1 in 244 boys
- 307 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
Famous bearers
- Ben Franklin, American statesman
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.