Benjie vs Bentley
American parents have registered 63,562 Bentleys since 1880, against 953 Benjies. Bentley is still ahead, with 1,795 babies in 2025.
Babies given each name, 1880–2025
Benjie Bentley
Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.
Who was ahead
Of the 115 years in which either name was published, Bentley for 99 years and Benjie for 16 years. The lead changed hands 16 times.
- 1890–1948 Bentley ahead, apart from one short spell
- 1954–1957 Benjie ahead
- 1961–1967 Bentley ahead
- 1972–1977 Benjie ahead
- 1978–2025 Bentley ahead
11 shorter spells of a year or two are folded into the spans above rather than listed separately.
Side by side
| Benjie | Bentley | |
|---|---|---|
| Total US births | 953 | 63,562 |
| Most in one year | 52 | 6,143 |
| Babies in 2025 | 5 | 1,795 |
| Estimated living today | 750 | 63,000 |
| Median age today | 60 | 10 |
| Peak year | 1962 | 2012 |
| Best rank | 1,082nd boys | 75th boys |
| Rank in 2025 | 12,008th | 215th |
| First recorded | 1935 | 1890 |
| Girls / boys | 31 / 922 | 3,535 / 60,027 |
A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.
Which name is older
Half of the Benjies alive today are over 60; half the Bentleys are over 10. That is 50 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.
Where each one is strongest
How much commoner the name is in that state than it is nationally, from births recorded since 1910.
Compare something else
Related comparisons
Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Benjie and Bentley.