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Benedict

#814 in 2025Boys' name

Blessed, well spoken of

Benedict has been given to 10,475 babies in the U.S. since 1882. In 2025 it ranked #814 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 305 recorded.

Babies named Benedict, 2025

1 in 10,900

Benedict over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030040018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Benedict: meaning, origin, and history

Blessed, well spoken of

Latin

What Benedict means

Benedict means “blessed, well spoken of”, associated with benedictus.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Saint Benedict, founder of the Benedictine Order, from Late Latin benedictus (“blessed, well spoken of”), from Latin benedīcō (“to bless, to speak well of”). Doublet of Bennett, Benoit, and Benito.

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Benedict (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Benedict is used in English and German. Its origins include Latin.

Benedict comes through Late Latin benedictus and Latin benedīcō.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Benedikt, Bennett, Benoit and Benito.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Benedict is pronounced /ˈbɛnədɪkt/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 10,475 boys were recorded with the name Benedict between 1882 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 305 in 2025; its best national rank was #447 in 1914.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,069 in 2020 to #814 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #1,205 in 2015 to #814 in 2025.

How common is Benedict?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 10,900
305 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 5,600
0.02% of boys
Rank, 2025
#814
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
7,535 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Benedict sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5004%

Put another way: gather 7,535 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Benedict. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Benedicts were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Benedict was born before 1967 — so the typical Benedict is around 58 today.

Median birth year
1967
About 58 years old
Biggest decade
2020s
13.8% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
34.1%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
6,648
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2020s — 13.8% of all recorded uses (1,447).

Is Benedict rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
+100
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+255
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+391
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.99×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (305)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
16.7% average annual change
Best rank ever
#447
1914

Where Benedict is used

Across 2016–2025, Benedict was most concentrated in Kansas — about 1 in 2,564 boys, against 1 in 8,533 across all states with data. It was least common in Tennessee (1 in 50,000).

239 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Kansas1 in 2,564
  2. 2Minnesota1 in 2,857
  3. 3Virginia1 in 3,846
  4. 4Wisconsin1 in 4,348
  5. 5Michigan1 in 4,545
  6. 6Iowa1 in 5,556
  7. 7Indiana1 in 5,882
  8. 8Maryland1 in 5,882

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Benedict around the world

Where Benedict ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #702
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    1974–2023
    #482
    in 2023
  • Northern Ireland
    2005–2006
    #282
    in 2006
  • Ireland
    1964–2024
    #472
    in 2024
  • France
    1902–2025
    #3,344
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #886
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1953–2013
    #499
    in 2013

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, National Records of Scotland, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS, NRS, NISRA data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Benedict

People whose public names include Benedict, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Benedict in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Benedict. Linked forms have their own page here.

BenBenoBenzBarakBengtBennoBentoBarackBaruchBenitoBennetBenoitBenedekBennettBenediktBenedettoBenedictoBentBenonBendikBendixBeneadBenoîtBieito

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Benedict by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#814
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 255
Best rank ever
#447
1914
Peak year
2025
305 that year
First recorded
1882
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
10,475
Count in 2025
305

Names similar to Benedict

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

BenjimanBenjamenBentonBenicioBentleeBensonBenitoBenaiahBentleyBenyaminBennettBenjamanBentzionBentlyBenzionBennetBennieBenedettoBenjamynBenjamineBenjiBennyBenignoBenuel

Names with a curve like Benedict

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Benedict, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

LucienOrenLuciusPalmerWylieMurphyFosterAugustineLeanderLevyHamptonEmery

Sibling names for Benedict

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Benedict

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