Benedict

What Benedict means

Means “blessed, well spoken of”

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”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Benedict” (revision 92411962), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Benedict?

US: Rising: up from #1205 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #341 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2025, when 305 boys got the name (#814 that year). First in the US records in 1882.

How common

• About 1 in 5,600 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 5,439 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in NE (0.91 per 1,000 boys), MN (0.86 per 1,000 boys), KS (0.78 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Benedict is #814 in the US and #702 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Benedict were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Benedikt0 US · 3 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Benedict

Boys

• Roman#42Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #102 in 2015, #42 in 2025
• Augustus#407“majestic, venerable”^*
• August#81“month of August”^*
• Leo#19“lion”^*
• Felix#175“happy, lucky”^*
• Bennett#40Form of Benedict, meaning “blessed, well spoken of”^*

For a sister

• Emilia#45Variant of Emily, meaning “rival, emulator”^*
• Aurora#15Italian, from Latin Aurōra, meaning “dawn, sunrise”^*
• Nova#46“new”^*
• Cecilia#108possibly “blind”^*
• Mabel#201“lovable”^*
• Aurelia#290“golden”^*

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Latin, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Benedict’s. Rank is US 2025.