# Benedict (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/benedict/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys |
| Origin | Latin |
| Meaning | “blessed”, “well spoken of”, “to bless”, “to speak well of” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɛnədɪkt/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Bene't, Benedicta |
| US babies named this | 10,475 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 10,475 / 0 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 3,556, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

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

## What it means

Benedict is grouped under holy.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 58 | 2,234 |
| 2012 | 87 | 1,729 |
| 2013 | 109 | 1,493 |
| 2014 | 140 | 1,272 |
| 2015 | 153 | 1,205 |
| 2016 | 152 | 1,229 |
| 2017 | 169 | 1,129 |
| 2018 | 210 | 985 |
| 2019 | 179 | 1,102 |
| 2020 | 187 | 1,069 |
| 2021 | 220 | 996 |
| 2022 | 234 | 967 |
| 2023 | 245 | 929 |
| 2024 | 256 | 914 |
| 2025 | 305 | 814 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 3 | 4,373 |
| 2005 | 3 | 4,798 |
| 2008 | 3 | 5,545 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 94 | 420 |
| 2012 | 114 | 370 |
| 2013 | 117 | 350 |
| 2014 | 132 | 341 |
| 2015 | 136 | 341 |
| 2016 | 93 | 442 |
| 2017 | 91 | 454 |
| 2018 | 77 | 504 |
| 2019 | 40 | 787 |
| 2020 | 49 | 690 |
| 2021 | 57 | 641 |
| 2022 | 50 | 679 |
| 2023 | 54 | 651 |
| 2024 | 49 | 721 |
| 2025 | 50 | 702 |

## In other languages

- Armenian: Բենեդիկտոս
- Bulgarian: Бенеди́кт
- Catalan: Benet
- Chinese: 本尼迪克特, 本篤 /本笃
- Czech: Benedikt
- Danish: Bent
- Esperanto: Benedikto
- Finnish: Pentti
- French: Benoît
- Georgian: ბენედიქტე
- German: Benedikt
- Greek: Βενέδικτος
- Hungarian: Benedek
- Icelandic: Benedikt
- Irish: Beinidict
- Italian: Benedetto, Benito
- Japanese: ベネディクト
- Korean: 베네딕토
- Latin: Benedictus
- Latvian: Benedikts

## People named Benedict

- Benedict Cumberbatch, English actor (born 1976)
- Benedict Anderson, American political scientist (1936-2015)
- Benedict Arnold, army officer who betrayed America to the British during the Revolutionary War (1740–1801)
- Horace Bénédict de Saussure, Genevan scientist (1740–1799)
- Benedict Wong, British actor
- Henry Benedict Stuart, Catholic cardinal
- Johann Benedict Listing, German mathematician (1808-1882)
- Benedict Biscop, Anglo-Saxon abbot
- Benedict Joseph Labre, French mendicant and saint
- Bénédict Morel, French psychiatrist (1809–1873)
- Charles Benedict Davenport, American botanist, zoologist and eugenicist (1866 – 1944)
- Benedict Wells, German novelist

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.