How popular is the baby name Benjamin 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 Benjamin.

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Popularity of the baby name Benjamin


Posts that mention the name Benjamin

Popular baby names in Virginia, 2023

Flag of Virginia
Flag of Virginia

Last year, the Commonwealth of Virginia — which is home to more than 8.7 million people — welcomed roughly 95,000 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Charlotte and Liam, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Vital Records.

Here are Virginia’s top 15 girl names and top 15 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Charlotte
  2. Emma
  3. Olivia*
  4. Sophia
  5. Amelia
  6. Evelyn
  7. Ava
  8. Isabella
  9. Elizabeth
  10. Mia
  11. Eleanor
  12. Harper
  13. Sofia
  14. Luna
  15. Abigail

*In the press release, Olivia was spelled “Oliva.” I’m assuming this was a typo.

Boy names

  1. Liam
  2. Noah
  3. James
  4. Oliver
  5. William
  6. Lucas
  7. Henry
  8. Theodore
  9. Benjamin
  10. Levi
  11. Elijah
  12. Luke
  13. John
  14. Michael
  15. Gabriel

The state also revealed the top names among the state’ four largest ethnic groups: White, Black, Hispanic and Asian. (According to the most recent CDC data, from 2021, 54.3% of Virginia’s babies were born to non-Hispanic White mothers, 20.0% to Black mothers, 15.7% to Hispanic mothers, and 7.3% to Asian mothers.)

These were the top 5 girl names and 5 boy names among Virginia’s White babies:

Girl names, WhiteBoy names, White
1. Charlotte
2. Olivia
3. Emma
4. Amelia
5. Sophia
1. James
2. William
3. Oliver
4. Henry
5. Liam

These were the top 5 girl names and 5 boy names among Virginia’s Black babies:

Girl names, BlackBoy names, Black
1. Ava
2. Naomi
3. Nova
4. Serenity
5. Autumn
1. Noah
2. Amir
3. Josiah
4. Elijah
5. Legend

These were the top 5 girl names and 5 boy names among Virginia’s Hispanic babies:

Girl names, HispanicBoy names, Hispanic
1. Mia
2. Camila*
3. Genesis*
4. Isabella
5. Sofia
1. Liam
2. Mateo
3. Dylan
4. Thiago
5. Lucas

*In the press release, Camila and Genesis were spelled “Camilla” and “Genisis.” I’m assuming these were typos as well.

And, finally, these were the top 5 girl names and 5 boy names among Virginia’s Asian babies:

Girl names, AsianBoy names, Asian
1. Olivia
2. Ava
3. Sophia
4. Sophie
5. Charlotte
1. Noah
2. Lucas
3. Muhammad
4. Ethan
5. Alexander

Here’s a link to Virginia’s 2022 rankings, if you’d like to compare last year to the year before.

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Virginia (public domain)

Popular baby names in Knox County (Illinois), 2023

Flag of Illinois
Flag of Illinois

Illinois’ Knox County — which was named after Revolutionary War hero Henry Knox — welcomed 498 babies last year.

Here are Knox County’s top girl names and top boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Ava, 4 baby girls [tie]
  2. Isabelle, 4 [tie]
  3. Aurora, 3 [3-way tie]
  4. Faith, 3 [3-way tie]
  5. Sophia, 3 [3-way tie]

Boy names

  1. Ezra, 4 baby boys [4-way tie]
  2. Liam, 4 [4-way tie]
  3. Oliver, 4 [4-way tie]
  4. Theodore, 4 [4-way tie]
  5. Asher, 3 [3-way tie]
  6. Benjamin, 3 [3-way tie]
  7. Jacob, 3 [3-way tie]
  8. Weston, 3 [3-way tie]

In 2022, the top names in the county were Charlotte and a tie between Theodore and Kai.

Several years earlier, in 2019, the top names were Charlotte and Benjamin.

Source: Line, Cameron. “List reveals Knox County’s top baby names of 2023.” WGIL 5 Feb. 2024.

Image: Adapted from Flag of Illinois (public domain)

Popular and unique baby names in Uruguay, 2022

Flag of Uruguay
Flag of Uruguay

The South American country of Uruguay doesn’t publish an annual list of top baby names per se, but Uruguay’s Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil (DNIC) does release a list of all the names used among people who obtained their Uruguayan identity card for the first time within a given year.

As we saw in 2021 and 2020, the DNIC rankings combine all names (male and female) together on a single list, but don’t combine different forms of the same name (e.g., Maria and María) into single entries on that list. Most notably, the rankings account for not just first-name usage, but also second-name usage (as Uruguayans are allowed to include a maximum of two given names on their identity cards).

So now that we have all that out of the way… the DNIC data reveals that the most-registered names in the country in 2022 were María and Juan.

Here are Uruguay’s top 100+ registered names of 2022:

  1. María, 1,170 babies
  2. Juan, 1,138
  3. Maria, 1,108
  4. Isabella, 885
  5. Benjamín, 780
  6. Emma, 766
  7. Mateo, 728
  8. Valentina, 660
  9. Catalina, 659
  10. Luis, 648
  11. Alejandro, 647
  12. Martina, 640
  13. Felipe, 637
  14. Carlos, 589
  15. Valentín, 568
  16. Ezequiel, 562
  17. Emilia, 559
  18. Manuel, 556
  19. Daniel, 555
  20. Lorenzo, 550
  21. Julieta, 546
  22. José, 535
  23. Gabriel, 518
  24. Jose, 517
  25. Nicolás, 491
  26. Sofía, 486
  27. Ignacio, 455
  28. Alberto, 452
  29. Santiago, 450
  30. Francisco, 442
  31. David, 438
  32. Agustín, 435
  33. Olivia, 429
  34. Josefina, 422
  35. Valentino, 416
  36. Antonio, 410 (tie)
  37. Lucas, 410 (tie)
  38. Bautista, 405
  39. Delfina, 396
  40. Lautaro, 389
  41. Benjamin, 384
  42. Eduardo, 383
  43. Belén, 378
  44. Thiago, 372
  45. Gael, 371
  46. Santino, 370
  47. Victoria, 367
  48. Javier, 365
  49. Agustina, 363
  50. Jorge, 362
  51. Emiliano, 358
  52. Dante, 357
  53. Alexander, 351
  54. Tomás, 342
  55. Paulina, 335
  56. Miguel, 334
  57. Rafael, 329
  58. Ana, 324
  59. Joaquín, 320
  60. Samuel, 315
  61. Pablo, 313
  62. Sofia, 309
  63. Pilar, 308
  64. Diego, 307
  65. Zoe, 306
  66. Alfonsina, 300
  67. Renata, 297
  68. Clara, 278 (3-way tie)
  69. Liam, 278 (3-way tie)
  70. Sebastián, 278 (3-way tie)
  71. Milagros, 276
  72. Francesca, 271
  73. Fernando, 268
  74. Emily, 265
  75. Enrique, 262
  76. Facundo, 261
  77. Federico, 260 (tie)
  78. Pedro, 260 (tie)
  79. Angel, 258
  80. Bastian, 253
  81. Bruno, 252 (tie)
  82. Martín, 252 (tie)
  83. Alejandra, 251
  84. Carolina, 249 (tie)
  85. Noah, 249 (tie)
  86. Guadalupe, 246
  87. Nicolas, 243
  88. Vicente, 240
  89. Enzo, 235
  90. Salvador, 228
  91. Sebastian, 227
  92. Juana, 225
  93. Valentin, 222
  94. Guillermo, 220
  95. Alma, 218 (tie)
  96. Emanuel, 218 (tie)
  97. Nahuel, 215
  98. Camila, 211 (tie)
  99. Elena, 211 (tie)
  100. Andres, 210
  101. Andrés, 209 (3-way tie)
  102. Benicio, 209 (3-way tie)
  103. Paz, 209 (3-way tie)
  104. Gabriela, 208
  105. Beatriz, 207
  106. Ciro, 206 (tie)
  107. Martin, 206 (tie)
  108. Maite, 203
  109. Andrea, 202
  110. Elizabeth, 200 (tie)
  111. Laura, 200 (tie)
  112. Isabel, 199 (tie)
  113. Mia, 199 (tie)
  114. Luciano, 198
  115. Ismael, 197
  116. Jazmín, 195
  117. Camilo, 194
  118. Marcelo, 192
  119. Franco, 190
  120. Agustin, 189
  121. Alfonso, 187
  122. Aitana, 186 (tie)
  123. Bianca, 186 (tie)
  124. Ramiro, 185
  125. Gustavo, 184
  126. Cataleya, 183
  127. Roberto, 178
  128. Ariel, 176
  129. Lucía, 174
  130. Micaela, 173 (tie)
  131. Ricardo, 173 (tie)

(I went down this far to ensure that at least fifty girl names were included.)

Here are a few names from lower down on the list:

  • 80 babies were named Celeste, which is the nickname of Uruguay’s national soccer team.
    • Only 35 babies were named Celeste in 2020.
  • 73 babies were named Aylen, and roughly two hundred more were given a different spelling of the name (e.g., Ayelen, Aylén, Ayelén, Aylín, Aylin). This is a Mapuche name with several possible meanings, including “ember” and “clear.”
  • 38 babies were named Coromoto, which comes from a Marian title.
  • 15 babies were named Inti, which is the Quechua word for “sun.”
  • 9 babies were named Amaru, which is the Quechua word for “snake.”
  • 8 babies were named Borja, which comes from the name of Spanish saint Francisco de Borja.
  • 7 babies were named Irupé, which is the Guaraní word for the large South American water-lily Victoria cruziana.
  • 5 babies were named Yamandú, which was the name of a historical Guarani chief.
  • 4 babies were named Chiquinquira, which comes from a Marian title.
    • Two others were named Aurora de la Chiquinquira and Leomarys de la Chiquinquira.
  • 4 babies were named Itanú, which is a Charrúa name said to mean “heartbeat of stone.”
  • 3 babies were named Guidaí, which is the Charrúa word for “moon.”
  • 3 babies were named Tacuabé, which was the name of a historical Charrúa man.
    • Following the Massacre of Salsipuedes in 1831, Tacuabé and several other Charrúa prisoners were taken to France to be put on exhibition.
  • 2 babies were named Amancay, which is a Quechua word that refers to a lily-like South American flower.
  • 2 babies were named Amapola, which means “poppy” in Spanish.
  • 2 babies were named Atahualpa, which was the name of the last emperor of the Inca.
  • 2 babies were named Everton, which may refer to Everton F.C.
  • 2 babies were named Leunam, which is Manuel spelled backwards.
  • 2 babies were named Pérola, which means “pearl” in Portuguese.
  • 2 babies were named Uruguay.

And, because Uruguay releases all of its baby name data, we can also check out the unique names at the bottom of the list. Here’s a selection Uruguay’s single-use baby names of 2022:

Aluminé, Balquidia, Cubillas, Danubio, Elquin, Francival, Gigiola, Haaland, Ivonilton, Juysver, Kaique, Liviesti, Magaiver, Namastée, Oscarina, Patria, Quetzal, Riccieri, Silvilex, Tarantino, Urania, Valuzia, Winifer, Xaviera, Yitnelly, Zapicán

Some possible explanations/associations:

  • Aluminé – a town in Argentina
  • Cubillas – Peruvian soccer player Teófilo Cubillas
  • Dabubio – Uruguayan football club Danubio
  • Haaland – Norwegian soccer player Erling Haaland
    • This one debuted in the U.S. data in 2021.
  • Magaiver – TV character MacGyver
  • Riccieri – a denim brand based in Brazil
  • Tarantino – American film director Quentin Tarantino
  • Zapicán – a village in Uruguay

Sources:

Image: Adapted from Flag of Uruguay (public domain)

Popular baby names in Boston (Massachusetts), 2023

Flag of Massachusetts
Flag of Massachusetts

Last year, the City of Boston welcomed a total of 20,645 babies.

What were the most popular names among these babies? Olivia and Liam.

Here are Boston’s top 20 girl names and top 20 boy names of 2023:

Girl names

  1. Olivia
  2. Emma
  3. Sophia
  4. Charlotte
  5. Sofia
  6. Isabella
  7. Grace
  8. Chloe
  9. Amelia
  10. Maya
  11. Luna
  12. Gianna
  13. Mia
  14. Nora
  15. Ava
  16. Natalie
  17. Ella
  18. Emilia
  19. Maeve
  20. Eleanor

Boy names

  1. Liam
  2. Noah
  3. Henry
  4. Leo
  5. Theodore
  6. Jack
  7. Julian
  8. James
  9. Thomas
  10. Benjamin
  11. William
  12. Luca
  13. John
  14. Ethan
  15. Logan
  16. Aiden
  17. Charles
  18. Samuel
  19. Joseph
  20. Oliver

Thomas caught my eye — it’s a top-10 boy name in Boston, but (in 2022) it only managed to rank 22nd state-wide and 45th country-wide.

Massachusetts’ top baby names of 2023 won’t be revealed until May, when the new SSA data comes out, but the state’s #1 names in 2022 were Olivia and Noah. (Noah won by a wide margin, in fact. It was given to 142 more baby boys than second-place Liam.)

Sources: Most Popular Baby Names in Boston, SSA

Image: Adapted from Flag of Massachusetts (public domain)