Ben - Origin and Meaning of the name

Ben is a short form (Dutch and English) of the name Benjamin (English, French, and German).

Ben is also a short form (Dutch and English) of the name Benedict (English). Ben is also a short form (Dutch and English) of the name Bennett (English).

Ben is a classic favorite. Today it is still a fairly popular baby name for boys, though it was in more widespread use previously. At the modest height of its usage in 1901, 0.224% of baby boys were named Ben. It ranked at #73 then. The baby name has since experienced a steep loss in popularity, and it is of occasional use in recent times. In 2007, its usage was only 0.018% and its ranking #610. Within the group of boy names directly related to Ben, Benjamin (English, French, and German) was the most popular. In 2007, it was used 33 times more than Ben.

Baby names that sound like Ben include Bane (Slavic), Bennie (English), Benno (German), Benny (English), Buno (Portuguese), Benejamen (English), Binyamin (Hebrew), Bünyamin (Turkish), Beniamin (Romanian), and Beniamino (Italian).

^KEY: Pronunciation for Ben: B as in "be (B.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)"

Details of famous persons named Ben:
Actor Ben Affleck, born 15 August 1972, Berkeley, California.
Actor Ben Kingsley, born Krishna Bhanji, 31 December 1943, North Yorkshire, England.
Actor Ben Vereen, born 10 October 1946, Miami, Florida.
Economist Ben Bernanke, born Ben Shalom Bernanke, 13 December 1953, Augusta, Georgia.
Filmmaker Ben Stiller, born 30 November 1965, New York, New York.
Playwright Ben Travers, born 12 November 1886 - 18 December 1980, Hendon, London, England.
Poet Ben Jonson, born Benjamin Jonson, 11 June 1572 - 6 August 1637, Westminster, London, England.
Surgeon Ben Carson, born 18 September 1951, Detroit, Michigan.