Ben - Meaning of Ben

What does Ben mean?

Pronounce
Ben

[ 1 syll. ben, be-n ] The baby boy name Ben is pronounced as Beh-N †.

1: Ben is used predominantly in Dutch, English, and Hebrew, and it is derived from Hebrew origins. Ben's meaning is son, son of. It is derived literally from the word 'ben' which is of the meaning son.

The name Ben is widely used; it has 23 variations that are used in English and other languages. English variations include Behn, Ben Zion (also used in Hebrew), Ben-Zion (also used in Hebrew), Benio, Benjea, Benjee, Benjey, Benji, Benjie, Benjy, Bennea, Bennee, Benney, Benni, Bennie, Benno, and Benny. Another English form is the spelling variant Benn.

Variations of Ben used in other languages include Ben Ami (Hebrew), Ben Baruch (Hebrew), Ben Gurion (Hebrew), Ben-Guryon (Hebrew), and Ben-Tzion (Hebrew).

2: Ben is of Arabic origin and it is used largely in the English language. Here, the meaning is 'son, son of'. The name is often used as a component of longer Arabic names.

In addition, Ben is a contracted form (Dutch and English) of the name Benedict (English).

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

Ben is also a contracted form of the name Bennett (English).

Ben is also a variation of the name Benon (English).

Ben is also a variation of the name Bentley (English).

Ben is also a variation of the name Benton (English).

See also the related categories, english, son (heir), hebrew, dutch, and arabic.

Ben is an all-time favorite. Today it is still rather popular as a baby boy name, but not as much as it was previously. At the height of its usage in 1901, 0.224% of baby boys were given the name Ben. It had a ranking of #73 then. The baby name has substantially fallen in popularity since then, and it is of only modest use in recent years. In 2018, it ranked at #692 with a usage of 0.018%. Within the family of boy names directly linked to Ben, Benjamin was the most widely used. It was more widely used than Ben by 39 times in 2018.

Baby names that sound like Ben include Behn, Benn, Bain, Ban, Banin, Banjee, Bayne, Behm, Bem, Bhim, Bin, Boin, Boine, Bon, Bone, Bonne, Boon, Boone, Bowyn, and Boyn.

† Pronunciation for Ben: B as in "be (B.IY)" ; EH as in "ebb (EH.B)" ; 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.