# Benita (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/benita/  
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 | girls |
| Origin | Spanish |
| Meaning | not recorded |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 13,669 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 0 / 13,669 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 213, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish Benita.

## 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, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 11 | 9,827 |
| 2012 | 23 | 5,734 |
| 2013 | 11 | 9,711 |
| 2014 | 15 | 7,723 |
| 2015 | 22 | 5,866 |
| 2016 | 14 | 8,062 |
| 2017 | 12 | 8,882 |
| 2018 | 11 | 9,253 |
| 2019 | 13 | 8,207 |
| 2020 | 11 | 9,047 |
| 2021 | 20 | 5,986 |
| 2022 | 12 | 8,620 |
| 2023 | 15 | 7,306 |
| 2024 | 8 | 11,278 |
| 2025 | 11 | 8,953 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 5 | 4,012 |
| 2011 | 8 | 2,893 |
| 2012 | 14 | 1,991 |
| 2013 | 7 | 3,160 |
| 2014 | 11 | 2,314 |
| 2015 | 8 | 2,945 |
| 2016 | 11 | 2,367 |
| 2017 | 5 | 4,063 |
| 2018 | 5 | 3,985 |
| 2019 | 4 | 4,686 |
| 2020 | 4 | 4,535 |
| 2022 | 8 | 2,888 |
| 2023 | 6 | 3,598 |
| 2024 | 7 | 3,318 |
| 2025 | 4 | 4,867 |

## People named Benita

- Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian diplomat and politician
- Benita Fitzgerald-Brown, American hurdler (born 1961)
- Benita Hume, British actress (1906–1967)
- Benita Johnson, Australian distance runner
- Benita Koch-Otte, German artist and university teacher (1892-1976)
- Benita von Falkenhayn, German baroness (1900–1935)
- Benita Valente, American singer
- Mayra Dias, Brazilian journalist, model and politician

## 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.