# Benton (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/benton/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A habitational surname from Old English.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | English |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 37,912 |
| US rank (2010) | 912 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 8,144 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.4% (37,032 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɛn.tən/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

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

## Who carries it

Share of people named Benton in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 69% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 25% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.6% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Two or more races | 2.2% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Benton in the United States and Kingdom of the Netherlands.

## People named Benton

- Robert Benton, American screenwriter and film director (1932–2025)
- Dave Benton, Aruban-Estonian musician (born 1951)
- Thomas Hart Benton, American painter (1889–1975)
- Glen Benton, American bassist and vocalist
- Barbi Benton, American former model, actress and singer
- William Benton, American politician (1900–1973)
- Denée Benton, American actress
- Walter Benton, American jazz musician (1930–2000)
- Fletcher Benton, American artist (1931-2019)

## Similar surnames

Boynton, Bunton, Banton, Bunting, Buntin.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.