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Benson

#279 in 2025Boys' name

Son of Benedict

Benson has been given to 14,344 babies in the U.S. since 1887. In 2025 it ranked #279 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 1,214 recorded.

Babies named Benson, 2025

1 in 2,730

Benson over time, 1880–2025

BoysGirls
05001K1.5K18801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Benson: meaning, origin, and history

Son of Benedict

surname transfer

What Benson means

Benson means “son of Benedict”.

Origin, language, and formation

Benson is used in English. Its origins include surname transfer.

Benson comes through Old English Benesingtūn.

Benson is recorded as a surname transferred into given-name use.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Benson is pronounced /ˈbɛn.sən/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 14,312 boys were recorded with the name Benson between 1887 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 1,214 in 2025; its best national rank was #279 in 2025.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #552 in 2020 to #279 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #472 in 2015 to #279 in 2025.

In the United States, 32 girls were recorded with the name Benson between 2015 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 13 in 2025; its best national rank was #7,956 in 2025.

Over 10 years its rank rose, from #16,855 in 2015 to #7,956 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Benson?

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

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 2,730
1,214 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 1,410
0.07% of boys
Rank, 2025
#279
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
1,894 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Benson 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 301%
Grade of 1004%
School of 50017%

Put another way: gather 1,894 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Benson. In a class of 30 the chance is 1%.

When Bensons were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Benson was born before 2014 — so the typical Benson is around 11 today.

Median birth year
2014
About 11 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
36.0% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
71.4%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
12,874
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 36.0% of all recorded uses (5,154).

Is Benson 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
+157
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+273
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+193
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
1.92×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (1,214)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Shifting
18.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#279
2025

Spellings of Benson

Benson is not the most common spelling — Bryson is, with 23.6% against Benson's 4.1%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Benson is used

Across 2016–2025, Benson was most concentrated in Utah — about 1 in 431 boys, against 1 in 2,467 across all states with data. It was least common in New Jersey (1 in 11,111).

9232 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Utah1 in 431
  2. 2Idaho1 in 633
  3. 3North Dakota1 in 685
  4. 4South Dakota1 in 781
  5. 5Nebraska1 in 952
  6. 6Montana1 in 980
  7. 7Iowa1 in 1,000
  8. 8Oregon1 in 1,136

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.

Geographically, Benson is one of the more regionally concentrated names in the country — more concentrated than 82% of the names used widely enough to compare. See the most regional names

Benson around the world

Where Benson 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
    #1,093
    in 2025
  • Scotland
    2015–2015
    #686
    in 2015
  • France
    2002–2022
    #6,061
    in 2022
  • Canada
    1991–2024
    #267
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1976–2012
    #514
    in 2012

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

Notable people named Benson

People whose public names include Benson, 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.

Benson by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#279
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 273
Best rank ever
#279
2025
Peak year
2025
1,214 that year
First recorded
1887
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
14,312
Count in 2025
1,214

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
#7,956
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
New entry
Best rank ever
#7,956
2025
Peak year
2025
13 that year
First recorded
2015
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
32
Count in 2025
13

Names similar to Benson

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

BenitoBentonJudsonBennieKaysonSamsonEdisonLawsonColsonKarsonBentlyBenedictBenicioBennetKaisonBennyBentleeWatsonKasonCaysonAddisonStetsonJaysonBentley

Names with a curve like Benson

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

MatthiasMathiasLawsonSullivanValentinoRhysPrinceZayneSamsonEdenZekeCassius

Sibling names for Benson

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 Benson

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