Boy · Latin
Benedict
Say it: BEN-uh-dikt
Meaning
Latin benedictus, 'blessed'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Spread with the Benedictine order; the medieval English form Bennet became a surname.
Its wave through time
Rising now
In the United States
- 9,207 babies given this name since 1882
- At its height in 1914, about 1 in 5,700 boys
- 186 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Early Middle Ages400 to 800
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
Early ChristianLatinEnglishFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolish
The family of the name
| French | Benoît |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Benito |
| Italian | Benedetto |
| Portuguese | Bento |
| German | Benedikt |
| Polish | Benedykt |
| Russian | Venedikt |
| Hungarian | Benedek |
Famous bearers
- Benedict of Nursia, founder of Western monasticism
- Pope Benedict XVI
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Calendars of saints and name days
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th 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.