# Benton (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/benton/  
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 | English |
| Meaning | “bean”, “bentgrass”, “enclosure”, “settlement”, “town” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɛn.tən/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |
| US babies named this | 10,421 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 10,415 / 6 (0% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 33, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

From either Old English bēan (“bean”) or *beonet (“bentgrass”) + tūn (“enclosure; settlement, town”).

## 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 6 | 14,067 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 212 | 937 |
| 2012 | 240 | 877 |
| 2013 | 225 | 917 |
| 2014 | 223 | 947 |
| 2015 | 254 | 874 |
| 2016 | 278 | 821 |
| 2017 | 234 | 912 |
| 2018 | 206 | 1,005 |
| 2019 | 187 | 1,076 |
| 2020 | 175 | 1,125 |
| 2021 | 157 | 1,227 |
| 2022 | 155 | 1,256 |
| 2023 | 145 | 1,315 |
| 2024 | 150 | 1,304 |
| 2025 | 104 | 1,623 |

### England and Wales, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 4 | 2,357 |
| 1997 | 9 | 1,345 |
| 2000 | 4 | 2,501 |
| 2003 | 4 | 2,857 |
| 2006 | 5 | 2,870 |
| 2009 | 3 | 4,527 |
| 2016 | 4 | 4,023 |

## People named Benton

- Benton MacKaye, American forester (1879-1975)
- Benton McMillin, American politician (1845-1933)
- P. B. S. Pinchback, American politician (1837–1921)
- Ben Alexander, American actor (1911–1969)

## 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.