Binyamin
Of Hebrew origin, meaning "son of the right hand."
Name Census estimates that about 1,019 living Americans carry the first name Binyamin. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Binyamin today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Binyamin births was 2024 (61 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Binyamin. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Binyamin with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Binyamin is a relatively new arrival in the SSA data. The average bearer is just 16 years old, meaning it gained most of its traction in the last two decades.
People living today
1.0K
~ 1 in 336,363 Americans
Peak year
2024
61 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#2,307
Tracked since 1978
Census
Binyamin in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 748 people with the first name Binyamin, which placed it at #15,394 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#15,394
National first-name rank
People counted
748
748 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
89.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Binyamin
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Binyamin is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Black (3.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Binyamin described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Binyamin at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White89.6% · 670
- Black or African American3.9% · 29
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.8% · 21
- Hispanic or Latino2.3% · 17
- Two or more races1.3% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.1% · 1
Popularity
Binyamin: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Binyamin from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 376 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Binyamin remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Binyamin by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Binyamin during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Binyamins live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, New Jersey, California recorded the most babies named Binyamin, while Maryland, California, New Jersey recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 143 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Binyamin
The name Binyamin is a Hebrew name derived from the Biblical Hebrew words "ben" meaning "son" and "yamin" meaning "right hand." It is the name of one of the twelve sons of the Biblical patriarch Jacob, who was later known as Benjamin.
The origin of the name Binyamin can be traced back to the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible, where it is mentioned that Rachel, Jacob's wife, named her second son Binyamin while giving birth to him. The name was given as she was in difficult labor and was told that she would have another son, who would be her "son of the right hand" or "son of the south."
Binyamin is also mentioned in the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, where it refers to the Tribe of Benjamin, one of the twelve tribes of Israel. The tribe was known for producing skilled archers and warriors, and they played a significant role in the early history of the Israelites.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Binyamin was in the 11th century BCE, when King Saul, the first king of Israel, was from the Tribe of Benjamin. Another notable figure with the name Binyamin was the 12th-century philosopher and scholar Benjamin of Tudela, who traveled extensively and documented Jewish communities across the world.
In the 15th century, a famous Spanish Jewish philosopher and scholar, Binyamin Musafia, lived and worked in Italy. He was known for his commentaries on various Jewish texts and his contributions to the field of Hebrew grammar.
During the 19th century, Binyamin Disraeli, a British politician and writer, served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice. He was known for his political skills and his literary works, including novels such as "Coningsby" and "Sybil."
Another notable figure with the name Binyamin was Binyamin Ze'ev Herzl, an Austro-Hungarian writer and political activist who is considered the founder of modern Zionism. His book "Der Judenstaat" (The Jewish State), published in 1896, outlined his vision for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
People
Binyamin + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Binyamin as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Binyamin: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Binyamin?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,019 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Binyamin going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 336,363 US residents.
Is Binyamin a common name?
We classify Binyamin as "Rare". It ranks above 90.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,032 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Binyamin most popular?
The single biggest year for Binyamin was 2024, when 61 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Binyamin is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Binyamin in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 748 people with the name Binyamin, or 0.25 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #15,394 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Binyamin in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Binyamin?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Binyamin appears almost entirely male. Of the 744 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Binyamin?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Binyamin is White at 89.6%. The next largest groups are Black (3.9%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Binyamin most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Binyamin in the 2020 Census, accounting for 89.6% (670 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Binyamin in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Binyamin a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Binyamin in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Binyamin still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Binyamin in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Binyamin can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people share the name Binyamin?
For a quick modern take, check how many people share the name Binyamin on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org.