Head to head · Boys' names
Benjamin vs Levi
#11 vs #12 in 2025
Benjamin is a whisker ahead (#11 vs #12 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Benjamin is stepping back from its peak, Levi is climbing the charts fast. On momentum, Levi has the edge.
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Which one would you pick?
1 parent has voted — the split shows after you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Benjamin leads 4 measures of 6; Levi 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, Levi #146 — Benjamin higher
- 1890s: Benjamin #47, Levi #203 — Benjamin higher
- 1900s: Benjamin #64, Levi #243 — Benjamin higher
- 1910s: Benjamin #73, Levi #346 — Benjamin higher
- 1920s: Benjamin #93, Levi #386 — Benjamin higher
- 1930s: Benjamin #119, Levi #415 — Benjamin higher
- 1940s: Benjamin #135, Levi #469 — Benjamin higher
- 1950s: Benjamin #133, Levi #517 — Benjamin higher
- 1960s: Benjamin #129, Levi #632 — Benjamin higher
- 1970s: Benjamin #48, Levi #452 — Benjamin higher
- 1980s: Benjamin #31, Levi #203 — Benjamin higher
- 1990s: Benjamin #31, Levi #165 — Benjamin higher
- 2000s: Benjamin #25, Levi #143 — Benjamin higher
- 2010s: Benjamin #12, Levi #46 — Benjamin higher
- 2020s: Benjamin #9, Levi #13 — Benjamin higher
Benjamin stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Benjamin | Levi |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #32 | #146 |
| 1890s | #47 | #203 |
| 1900s | #64 | #243 |
| 1910s | #73 | #346 |
| 1920s | #93 | #386 |
| 1930s | #119 | #415 |
| 1940s | #135 | #469 |
| 1950s | #133 | #517 |
| 1960s | #129 | #632 |
| 1970s | #48 | #452 |
| 1980s | #31 | #203 |
| 1990s | #31 | #165 |
| 2000s | #25 | #143 |
| 2010s | #12 | #46 |
| 2020s | #9 | #13 |
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
Levi
- Canada#16
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.
Levi
Joined, attached
Genesis 29 gives the explanation as Leah's words at his birth — that now her husband would be joined to her — from the Hebrew root lavah, to join or attach. Some scholars have proposed older Semitic roots tied to priesthood, but the 'joined' reading is the accepted one.
לֵוִי (Levi) → Leui (Greek) → Levi (Latin) → Levi (English)
How it traveled
The name is Hebrew and biblical, belonging to the third son of Jacob and Leah and to the tribe of Levi, whose descendants served in the Temple; the word Levite comes straight from it. Greek translators of the Hebrew Bible rendered it Leui, and Latin kept it as Levi, which is why the spelling survived unchanged into English.
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.
Levi
LEE-vye
That is the usual English pronunciation. In Hebrew and in many Jewish families it is LEH-vee, and Dutch and German speakers say something close to that too. Both are correct; it helps to decide which one you mean before the birth announcement.
- Lev — The most common clipping in English, and a full given name in its own right in Russian and Hebrew usage.
- Lee — Informal, drawn from the first syllable in the English pronunciation; also long established as a standalone name.
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
Levi
Levi Strauss (b. 1829) — Invented blue jeans
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 with more sound in itBenjamin runs 3 syllables, Levi 2
- plenty of nickname options4 recorded short forms — Ben, Benny and Benji
- a name that charts abroad tooBenjamin is on the national lists of Canada and England & Wales
Choose Levi if you want…
- a name on the way upup 6 places on the charts in five years
- a name with fewer syllablesLevi is 2 syllables to Benjamin's 3
- a name that feels very nowLevi 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.
Levi
Strengths
- Spelled the same way in English, Dutch, German and Hebrew transliteration — no adjustment needed as it travels.
- Four letters, two syllables, and no silent letters or doubled consonants to explain.
- A documented record stretching back to the Hebrew Bible, with continuous use in Jewish families ever since.
To consider
- The English pronunciation split, LEE-vye against LEH-vee, is genuine, and your child will spend some time correcting people who guess the other one.
- Levi Strauss put the name on the back pocket of a great many jeans, and the denim association is the first thing some people will think of.
- Its wave is very recent, so it reads clearly as a name of the current generation of children rather than a neutral classic.
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.
Levi
63%chance Levi feels dated by 2040
Levi 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 Levi in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Benjamin and Levi?
Put both to the vote.
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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 Levi — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Benjamin or Levi — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Benjamin or Levi?
- Benjamin, in 2025: Benjamin ranked #11 with 9,762 babies; Levi ranked #12 with 9,642 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Benjamin or Levi?
- Levi. Over the last five years Benjamin moved down 4 places; Levi moved up 6 places.
- Which is the older name, Benjamin or Levi?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Benjamin and Levi?
- About 721,000 people named Benjamin are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 202,000 people named Levi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Benjamins or Levis in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 7 classrooms will have a child named Benjamin. Roughly 1 in 7 classrooms will have a child named Levi.
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
Keep playing
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