Benito

← Back to Victorian and Belle Époque

Boy · Latin

Benito

Say it: beh-NEE-toh

Try it with your surname

Meaning

Spanish form of Latin Benedictus 'blessed'.

Certainscholars agree on this meaning.

Its wave through time

Most used in the 1920s

In the United States

13,831 babies given this name since 1880
At its height in 1929, about 1 in 8,200 boys
98 babies in 2020

Through the ages

Used by

Mexican Spanish Caribbean

The family of the name

Portuguese	Bento
Italian	Benedetto
Latin	Benedictus

Famous bearers

Benito Juárez, Zapotec president of Mexico

Names worth a look

AgustínBoyFrom Latin Augustinus, derived from augustus 'venerable'.Colonial · peak 2001

ÁlvaroBoyUncertain. Probably Germanic; proposals include elements meaning 'all' and 'cautious' or 'elf' and 'army'.Middle Ages · peak 2000

FidelBoyFrom Latin fidelis 'faithful'.Colonial · peak 2001 · forgotten

AlonsoBoySpanish form of Alfonso, from Germanic adal 'noble' and funs 'ready'.Colonial · peak 2010

GonzaloBoyFrom Visigothic Gundisalvus; the first element is Germanic gunþ 'battle', the second is uncertain.Early Medieval · peak 2000

TrinidadGirl or boySpanish 'Trinity'.Colonial · peak 1922

BentleyBoyFrom an English surname taken from place names, from Old English beonet 'bent grass' and leah 'clearing'.Modern · peak 2012

BennettBoyFrom a medieval English form of Benedict, from Latin benedictus 'blessed'.Middle Ages · peak 2020

Where this comes from

Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
Parish baptism registers
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.