How popular is the baby name Ben in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Ben.

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Popularity of the baby name Ben


Posts that mention the name Ben

Popular baby names in Switzerland, 2024

Flag of Switzerland
Flag of Switzerland

Last year, the European country of Switzerland welcomed 78,256 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Emma and Noah.

Here are Switzerland’s top 50 girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Emma, 377 baby girls
  2. Mia, 367
  3. Sofia, 321
  4. Emilia, 271
  5. Lina, 255
  6. Elena, 253
  7. Mila, 252
  8. Olivia, 245
  9. Nora, 241
  10. Lia, 223
  11. Luna, 207
  12. Lea, 203
  13. Elina, 199
  14. Alina, 197
  15. Malea, 194
  16. Amelia, 189
  17. Nina, 186
  18. Sophia, 185
  19. Anna, 183
  20. Aurora, 181
  21. Chiara, 179 (tie)
  22. Leonie, 179 (tie)
  23. Ella, 178
  24. Yara, 170
  25. Lena, 167
  26. Lara, 165
  27. Eva, 162
  28. Alice, 160
  29. Giulia, 155
  30. Laura, 149
  31. Luana, 147
  32. Valentina, 146
  33. Maria, 144
  34. Elin, 142
  35. Julia, 141
  36. Malia, 137
  37. Alea, 136
  38. Juna, 135
  39. Aria, 133
  40. Ava, 132
  41. Livia, 130
  42. Dua, 129 (tie)
  43. Inaya, 129 (tie)
  44. Sara, 127
  45. Ayla, 119 (tie)
  46. Liana, 119 (tie)
  47. Alma, 118 (tie)
  48. Emily, 118 (tie)
  49. Sophie, 117 (tie)
  50. Victoria, 117 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Noah, 511 baby boys
  2. Liam, 395
  3. Matteo, 326
  4. Gabriel, 285
  5. Luca, 280
  6. Leo, 243
  7. Louis, 239
  8. Elio, 237
  9. Leon, 234
  10. Leano, 233
  11. Elias, 227
  12. Levi, 208
  13. Lio, 194
  14. Aaron, 191 (tie)
  15. Elia, 191 (tie)
  16. Theo, 187
  17. Leonardo, 185 (tie)
  18. Luan, 185 (tie)
  19. Nino, 181
  20. Noé, 180
  21. Malik, 176
  22. Enea, 174
  23. David, 168
  24. Livio, 167 (tie)
  25. Nico, 167 (tie)
  26. Finn, 163
  27. Samuel, 162
  28. Mateo, 161
  29. Adam, 158
  30. Lian, 157
  31. Arthur, 155
  32. Leandro, 147 (tie)
  33. Mattia, 147 (tie)
  34. Emilio, 145 (tie)
  35. Nael, 145 (tie)
  36. Mael, 144
  37. Henry, 142
  38. Emil, 141 (tie)
  39. Julian, 141 (tie)
  40. Diego, 140
  41. Kian, 139
  42. Ben, 137
  43. Laurin, 136
  44. Oliver, 132
  45. Levin, 129
  46. Lino, 128
  47. Dario, 124
  48. Robin, 120
  49. Jonas, 113 (tie)
  50. Nathan, 113 (tie)

Two of the fastest-rising names were Liora (for girls) and Clément (for boys).

Switzerland, which is home to over 9 million people, has four national languages: German, French, Italian, and Romansh. Here are the top names among the speakers of each of these languages:

Girl namesBoy names
German speakers
(62.3% of the population)		1. Mia, 275
2. Emilia, 241
3. Emma, 234		1. Noah, 365
2. Liam, 257
3. Matteo, 252
French speakers
(22.8% of pop.)		1. Emma, 124
2. Olivia, 103
3. Eva, 80		1. Gabriel, 130
2. Noah, 129
3. Liam, 117
Italian speakers
(8.0% of pop.)		1. Aurora, 27
2. Sofia, 22
3. Ginevra, 21		1. Leonardo, 31
2. Enea, 26 (tie)
3. Tommaso, 26 (tie)
Romansh speakers
(0.5% of pop.)		1. Alina, 41. David, 3 (tie)
2. Gino, 3 (tie)

And here’s a selection of the uncommon names that were given to just two babies each in Switzerland in 2024:

Rare girl names Rare boy names
Audélia, Berina, Cassia, Dasel, Etna, Fadrina, Galina, Hasti, Ioli, Joaquina, Kokob, Liridona, Maurane, Nilde, Ona, Pelda, Ruena, Sira, Thémis, Verica, Waimea, Xara, Yangtso, ZeenaAtari, Boaz, Célien, Deran, Enoa, Fanuel, Gaspar, Harald, Icaro, Jonte, Keylam, Lisi, Mayeul, Niculin, Onno, Pepe, Rodion, Shukri, Tsering, Urs, Vidar, Wilhelm, Yafiet, Zana

Possible explanations/associations for several of the above:

  • Etna is the name of Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna, which is located on the island of Sicily.
  • Fadrina is the feminine form of Fadri, a Romansh name related to Frederick.
  • Liridona is based on the Albanian word liri, meaning “freedom, liberty.”
  • Niculin is a Romansh name related to Nicholas.
  • Waimea is a Hawaiian place-name meaning “reddish water.” (I remember seeing a single baby named Waimea in the 2021 Sonoma rankings, but I didn’t expect to find two babies named Waimea in Switzerland!)

Other Romansh names I noticed in the rankings were the girl name Bigna (given to 12 babies) and the boy names Corsin (10) and Curdin (5).

Finally, here are Switzerland’s 2023 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources: First names of newborns – Federal Statistical Office, Births and deaths – Federal Statistical Office, Languages of Switzerland – Wikipedia, Behind the Name, Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian Language Dictionaries

Image: Adapted from Flag of Switzerland (public domain)

Popular baby names in Liechtenstein, 2024

Flag of Liechtenstein
Flag of Liechtenstein

Last year, the tiny European country of Liechtenstein welcomed 341 babies — 166 girls and 175 boys.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Sophia for girls and Leon and Noah/Noa (tie) for boys.

Here are Liechtenstein’s top girl names and top boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Sophia, 5 baby girls
  2. Leyla and Livia, 4 each (tie)
  3. Alina, Chiara, Leonie, Lia, and Paula, 3 each (5-way tie)
  4. Ajla/Ayla, Amelie, Elisa, Emilia, Fiona, Freya, Hanna/Hannah, Ida, Ilenia, Laura, Lina, Lou, Luisa, Maya, Melina, Nelia, Noelia, Nora, Olivia, Romina, Timea, and Valea, 2 each (22-way tie)

Boy names

  1. Leon and Noah/Noa, 5 baby boys each (tie)
  2. Elias, Julian, Laurin, Leano, Levi, Linus, Lio, Lionel, Luca, Matteo/Matheo, Theo, and Valentin, 3 each (12-way tie)
  3. Alexander, Ben, Elia, Emil, Gino, Jonas, Kian, Lenny, Leyan, Lorenzo, Marlo, Nelio, Noe, Noel, and Vincent, 2 each (15-way tie)

The rest of the names were bestowed just once:

Unique girl names (94)Unique boy names (99)
Adriana, Alba, Alessia, Amara, Amaya, Amberly, Amelia, Amina, Amra, Anna, Asel, Asena, Aurelia, Aylin, Belinda, Carla, Celia, Charlotte, Chloé, Delia, Eflin, Elena, Elenor, Elina, Elisabeth, Ella, Elsa, Emily, Emma, Flavia, Frieda, Gabriella, Giada, Hale, Ivie, Jana, Julia, Juna, Kalea, Kate, Katharina, Klara, Kori, Lania, Larissa, Lea, Letizia, Lillian, Linn, Liuna, Liv, Lola, Lorine, Lua, Luna, Malea, Malia, Mara, Maria, Marie, Martina, Mayla, Melissa, Mia, Michaela, Mila, Milena, Morena, Naira, Nayla, Neea, Nilya, Noemi, Nuray, Peyang, Rital, Rosa, Ruby, Run, Samara, Sienna, Sophie, Sumaya, Sunniva, Thalia, Valentina, Valeria, Valérie, Viktoria, Viola, Vivienne, Yara, Yasmin, YunaAdni, Afonso, Albert, Amelio, Andrin, Anis, Anton, Aran, Aras, Arel, Aren, Arian, Arno, Arthur, Aurelio, Benjamin, Bernardo, Bryan, Charles, Ciro, Colin, Constantin, Daadir, Dani, Danial, David, Demir, Dijar, Ege, Eli, Elouan, Enzo, Erik, Erin, Fabian, Finn, Florian, Gabriel, Hayden, Henrik, Ilario, Ilyas, Jack, Jakob, Jayden, Johann, Jonathan, Jordan, Kenny, Konstantin, Leo, Leonardo, Leonidas, Leron, Levin, Levio, Liam, Lineo, Lino, Lou, Luan, Luciano, Mads, Magnus, Mailo, Maksim, Marco, Matej, Mats, Mattia, Matvii, Max, Maximilian, Miko, Naél, Near, Nevio, Nico, Nicolas, Paolo, Paul, Poyraz, Qingyang, Quentin, Raphael, Rayan, Rodrigo, Rui, Salvador, Samuel, Simon, Tino, Tobias, Valerio, Yaro, Yaroslav, Yuri, Yusuf, Zeyd

I didn’t post about Liechtenstein’s top baby names of 2023 or 2022, but here are Liechtenstein’s 2021 rankings.

Source: Neugeborenennamen – Liechtensteinische Landesverwaltung Statistikportal

Image: Adapted from Flag of Liechtenstein (public domain)

How did “Good Will Hunting” influence baby names?

The characters Skylar and Will from the movie "Good Will Hunting" (1997)
Skylar and Will from “Good Will Hunting“

The protagonist of the movie Good Will Hunting, which was released in December of 1997, was a young man from South Boston named Will Hunting (played by Matt Damon).

Will Hunting saw “nothing wrong with spending his whole life hanging out with his friends, quaffing a few beers, holding down a blue-collar job.”

The problem? He was also a self-taught mathematical genius with a photographic memory.

So several people in his life — including his best friend Chuckie (Ben Affleck), his psychotherapist Sean (Robin Williams), and his girlfriend Skylar (Minnie Driver) — pushed him to rise above his troubled past and embrace his gifts. As Chuckie put it, Will was “sitting on a winning lottery ticket” — he just had to find the courage to cash it in.

Good Will Hunting became one of the highest-grossing films of 1998. It also won a pair of Academy Awards: one for Best Supporting Actor (Williams), the other for Best Original Screenplay (Damon and Affleck).

So how did the movie affect the baby name charts?

The usage of Will, which was the only name used to refer to the main character (i.e., he was never called William), increased in 1998:

  • 2000: 447 baby boys named Will [rank: 510th]
  • 1999: 422 baby boys named Will [rank: 506th]
  • 1998: 339 baby boys named Will [rank: 578th]
  • 1997: 268 baby boys named Will [rank: 634th]
  • 1996: 280 baby boys named Will [rank: 622nd]

And the slow rise of Skylar for baby girls accelerated noticeably the same year:

Girls named SkylarBoys named Skylar
20002,503 [rank: 135th]748 [rank: 356th]
19992,513 [rank: 131st]695 [rank: 374th]
19981,731 [rank: 173rd]730 [rank: 358th]
1997953 [rank: 302nd]657 [rank: 372nd]
1996855 [rank: 328th]636 [rank: 373rd]

(The names Wil, Skyler, and Skyla also saw higher usage in 1998.)

Matt Damon wrote the first draft of the script for Good Will Hunting while attending Harvard College in the early ’90s. He based the character of Skylar, a pre-med student at Harvard, on his then-girlfriend, Skylar Satenstein, a former pre-med student at Harvard. (She’d since become a med student at Columbia.)

Incidentally, Satenstein went on the marry Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich (son of Torben Ulrich) in early 1997. Later the same year, Lars and Skylar attended the local premiere of Good Will Hunting together in New York City.

P.S. The movie was shot during the spring of 1997, which overlapped with the end of my own freshman year at Harvard. I remember other students saying they’d spotted a film crew in the area during those months.

Sources:

Image: Screenshot of Good Will Hunting

Popular baby names in Ireland, 2024

Flag of Ireland
Flag of Ireland

The top baby names in the Republic of Ireland last year were Sophie and Jack.

Here are Ireland’s top 50+ girl names and top 50 boy names of 2024:

Girl names

  1. Sophie, 294 baby girls
  2. Éabha, 293
  3. Grace, 291
  4. Emily, 290
  5. Fiadh, 286
  6. Lily, 253
  7. Olivia, 246
  8. Amelia, 220
  9. Sadie, 216
  10. Mia, 213
  11. Lucy, 204
  12. Freya, 196
  13. Isla, 193
  14. Ella, 192
  15. Ellie, 190
  16. Croía, 188
  17. Emma, 187 (tie)
  18. Maya, 187 (tie)
  19. Sophia, 180
  20. Chloe, 179 (tie)
  21. Hannah, 179 (tie)
  22. Molly, 171
  23. Evie, 167
  24. Saoirse, 164
  25. Sofia, 154
  26. Ava, 152
  27. Robyn, 148
  28. Millie, 145
  29. Anna, 140
  30. Ruby, 134
  31. Caoimhe, 131 (tie)
  32. Rosie, 131 (tie)
  33. Róisín, 126
  34. Bonnie, 123
  35. Erin, 120 (tie)
  36. Isabelle, 120 (tie)
  37. Cara, 118
  38. Sadhbh, 117
  39. Holly, 115
  40. Éala, 114
  41. Annie, 112
  42. Clodagh, 109 (tie)
  43. Daisy, 109 (tie)
  44. Hazel, 108
  45. Aoife, 107 (tie)
  46. Katie, 107 (tie)
  47. Kate, 106 (tie)
  48. Willow, 106 (tie)
  49. Maisie, 105
  50. Ada, 104 (tie)
  51. Méabh, 104 (tie)

Boy names

  1. Jack, 490 baby boys
  2. Noah, 486
  3. Rían, 432
  4. Cillian, 352
  5. James, 336
  6. Tadhg, 318
  7. Fionn, 304
  8. Liam, 303
  9. Oisín, 286
  10. Charlie, 258
  11. Daniel, 257
  12. Finn, 255
  13. Theo, 252
  14. Thomas, 226
  15. Seán, 222
  16. Patrick, 220
  17. Michael, 218
  18. Luke, 217
  19. Conor, 210
  20. Harry, 209
  21. Tommy, 202
  22. Leo, 201 (tie)
  23. Páidí, 201 (tie)
  24. Luca, 197
  25. Adam, 188
  26. Darragh, 184
  27. Oliver, 181
  28. Bobby, 179
  29. John, 168
  30. Jamie, 162 (tie)
  31. Kai, 162 (tie)
  32. Oscar, 159
  33. Cian, 158 (tie)
  34. Max, 158 (tie)
  35. Ollie, 157
  36. Alex, 155
  37. Callum, 154
  38. Sonny, 147
  39. Dylan, 141
  40. David, 134
  41. Ben, 132
  42. Matthew, 131
  43. Caelan, 128
  44. Alexander, 127
  45. Muhammad, 126
  46. Ryan, 124
  47. Arthur, 119
  48. Arlo, 118
  49. Alfie, 117
  50. Shay, 107

The trendy name Croía (pronounced KREE-a) rose from 95th in 2020, to 52nd in 2021, to 38th in 2022, to 24th in 2023, to 16th last year. Do you think it will reach the top 10 in 2025?

Speaking of names on the upswing, the fastest-rising girl names in the top 100 were Maya (in terms of number of babies) and Rhea (in terms of rank). Likewise, the fastest-rising boy names in the top 100 were Rían (in terms of number of babies) and Caleb (in terms of rank).

And what about the names at the other end of the spectrum? Here’s a selection of the names given to just 3 babies each in Ireland last year:

Rare girl namesRare boy names
Annalivia, Brídín, Ceoladh, Dolcie, Elira, Fearne, Goldie, Heather, Iveagh, Jessa, Kenza, Líobhan, Morrigan, Nollaig, Oonagh, Peach, Réalta, Saffi, Tiffany, Vega, Willa, ZariaAhan, Bento, Chulainn, Daróg, Enda, Fearghal, Gene, Hughie, Íarlaith, Jameson, Keelin, Laith, Mick, Naomhán, Oilibhéar, Pat, Ralphie, Séadh, Téidí, Vlad, Willie, Zeke

The Irish word réalta means “star.”

Source: Irish Babies’ Names – CSO (Irish Babies’ Names 2024)

Image: Adapted from Flag of Ireland (public domain)