Head to head · Boys' names
Benjamin vs Elias
#11 vs #13 in 2025
Benjamin is a whisker ahead (#11 vs #13 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Benjamin is stepping back from its peak, Elias is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Elias has the edge.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Benjamin leads 4 measures of 6; Elias leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: Benjamin #32, Elias #254 — Benjamin higher
- 1890s: Benjamin #47, Elias #336 — Benjamin higher
- 1900s: Benjamin #64, Elias #447 — Benjamin higher
- 1910s: Benjamin #73, Elias #451 — Benjamin higher
- 1920s: Benjamin #93, Elias #458 — Benjamin higher
- 1930s: Benjamin #119, Elias #497 — Benjamin higher
- 1940s: Benjamin #135, Elias #571 — Benjamin higher
- 1950s: Benjamin #133, Elias #589 — Benjamin higher
- 1960s: Benjamin #129, Elias #583 — Benjamin higher
- 1970s: Benjamin #48, Elias #466 — Benjamin higher
- 1980s: Benjamin #31, Elias #404 — Benjamin higher
- 1990s: Benjamin #31, Elias #307 — Benjamin higher
- 2000s: Benjamin #25, Elias #197 — Benjamin higher
- 2010s: Benjamin #12, Elias #101 — Benjamin higher
- 2020s: Benjamin #9, Elias #37 — Benjamin higher
Benjamin stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Benjamin | Elias |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #32 | #254 |
| 1890s | #47 | #336 |
| 1900s | #64 | #447 |
| 1910s | #73 | #451 |
| 1920s | #93 | #458 |
| 1930s | #119 | #497 |
| 1940s | #135 | #571 |
| 1950s | #133 | #589 |
| 1960s | #129 | #583 |
| 1970s | #48 | #466 |
| 1980s | #31 | #404 |
| 1990s | #31 | #307 |
| 2000s | #25 | #197 |
| 2010s | #12 | #101 |
| 2020s | #9 | #37 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Benjamin
- Canada#9
- England & Wales#61
Elias
- Canada#57
- England & Wales#79
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Benjamin
son of the right hand
Hebrew ben yamin. Yamin is the right hand, and because someone facing the sunrise has the south on their right, it is also the ordinary word for the south. Both readings are standard and neither excludes the other: the right hand is the side of strength and favor, and the tribe's land lay south of its neighbors. It replaced Ben-Oni, son of my sorrow, at the moment of birth.
Ben-Oni → Binyamin → Beniamin → Benjamin
How it traveled
Benjamin was the last of Jacob's twelve sons and the only one born in Canaan rather than in exile, and the story of his naming is unusually raw for Genesis: a mother naming her child out of her own dying, and a father overruling her within the same verse. The tribe that took his name was the smallest of the twelve, and its territory lay on the border where Jerusalem stands.
Elias
my God is Yahweh
From the Hebrew name Eliyahu, built from El (God) and the divine name Yahweh.
Eliyahu → Ēlias → Elias → Elijah
How it traveled
The name begins as Hebrew Eliyahu, borne by the prophet of the Book of Kings. When Jewish translators in Alexandria rendered the scriptures into Greek, Eliyahu became Ēlias, and Latin took it from there as Elias — which is why medieval Europe knew the prophet by that spelling rather than Elijah.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Benjamin
BEN-juh-min
Three syllables, stress on the first. The Hebrew Binyamin puts the weight at the far end, bin-yah-MEEN, and keeps the y as a consonant. French says it with a nasal ending and no audible n at all.
- Ben — The default, used by most Benjamins most of the time; also a full name in its own right.
- Benny — Warmer and older-sounding; often the family version rather than the public one.
- Benji — A child's form that some men keep and some drop at about fourteen.
- Benj — A clipped written form, common among friends and rarely used aloud by strangers.
Elias
ee-LY-us
Most common in American English, though ih-LY-us is heard just as often. German and Scandinavian speakers say EH-lee-as, and Spanish speakers eh-LEE-as, with the stress on the second syllable and the accent written in: Elías.
- Eli — The usual short form in American English, and a well-established given name in its own right.
- Lias — Informal short form heard in German- and Scandinavian-speaking families.
- El — Casual, family-level shortening rather than a name used on paper.
Who has carried each name
Benjamin
Benjamin Franklin (b. 1706) — Founding Father on the $100 bill — printer, inventor, diplomat
Benjamin Disraeli (b. 1804) — Twice British prime minister — and a bestselling novelist
Elias
Elias Howe (b. 1819) — Invented the sewing machine
Elias Canetti (b. 1905) — Nobel Prize-winning writer
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Benjamin if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsBenjamin is stepping back from its peak
- a name that ages quietlyan estimated 12% chance of feeling dated by 2040, against 74% for Elias
Choose Elias if you want…
- a name on the way upup 41 places on the charts in five years
- a name that feels very nowElias is climbing the charts fast
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Benjamin
Strengths
- Three thousand years of continuous use with no gap anywhere in the record.
- Four short forms at four different temperatures, from formal to affectionate.
- Recognized without translation in Hebrew, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French and Russian.
To consider
- Ben is what most people will settle on, so choose the full name only if the short one suits you too.
- Ben is also shared with Bennett, Benedict and Benson, so it identifies nothing on its own.
- In American slang, Benjamins are hundred-dollar bills, after the face on the note.
Elias
Strengths
- Comes with Eli already attached — a short form that needs no explaining and works from preschool to a professional signature.
- Works in German, Swedish, Finnish, Dutch, Spanish and Portuguese with little or no change, which matters in a multilingual family.
- A documented record stretching from the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible through medieval Latin Europe to the present.
To consider
- Elias, Elijah and Eli are close cousins in sound and constantly mistaken for one another; expect to correct which one it is fairly often.
- The two pronunciations — ee-LY-us and eh-LEE-as — both have a genuine claim, so you will be choosing one and repeating it.
- This one is climbing steadily, and it shares a sound world with several other names much in the air, so a classroom may hold something similar even if it holds no other Elias.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Benjamin
12%chance Benjamin feels dated by 2040
Benjamin has held the top-100 across 11 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
Elias
74%chance Elias feels dated by 2040
Elias is climbing fast right now. Steep climbs tend to come with steep descents — the quicker a name arrives, the more firmly it belongs to its moment.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Benjamin and Elias in full.
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Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
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More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Benjamin and Elias — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Benjamin or Elias — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Benjamin or Elias?
- Benjamin, in 2025: Benjamin ranked #11 with 9,762 babies; Elias ranked #13 with 8,837 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Benjamin or Elias?
- Elias. Over the last five years Benjamin moved down 4 places; Elias moved up 41 places.
- Which is the older name, Benjamin or Elias?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Benjamin and Elias?
- About 721,000 people named Benjamin are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 121,000 people named Elias are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Benjamins or Eliass in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 7 classrooms will have a child named Benjamin. Roughly 1 in 8 classrooms will have a child named Elias.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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