Head to head · Boys' names
Benjamin vs William
#11 vs #9 in 2025 · both stepping back from its peak
William is a whisker ahead (#9 vs #11 in 2025) and both are stepping back from its peak. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
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, William leads 4 measures of 6; Benjamin leads 0.
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, William #2 — William higher
- 1890s: Benjamin #47, William #2 — William higher
- 1900s: Benjamin #64, William #2 — William higher
- 1910s: Benjamin #73, William #2 — William higher
- 1920s: Benjamin #93, William #3 — William higher
- 1930s: Benjamin #119, William #4 — William higher
- 1940s: Benjamin #135, William #4 — William higher
- 1950s: Benjamin #133, William #6 — William higher
- 1960s: Benjamin #129, William #7 — William higher
- 1970s: Benjamin #48, William #10 — William higher
- 1980s: Benjamin #31, William #15 — William higher
- 1990s: Benjamin #31, William #18 — William higher
- 2000s: Benjamin #25, William #9 — William higher
- 2010s: Benjamin #12, William #4 — William higher
- 2020s: Benjamin #9, William #8 — William higher
William stood higher in every recorded decade — 15 of 15.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Benjamin | William |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #32 | #2 |
| 1890s | #47 | #2 |
| 1900s | #64 | #2 |
| 1910s | #73 | #2 |
| 1920s | #93 | #3 |
| 1930s | #119 | #4 |
| 1940s | #135 | #4 |
| 1950s | #133 | #6 |
| 1960s | #129 | #7 |
| 1970s | #48 | #10 |
| 1980s | #31 | #15 |
| 1990s | #31 | #18 |
| 2000s | #25 | #9 |
| 2010s | #12 | #4 |
| 2020s | #9 | #8 |
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
William
- Canada#5
- England & Wales#27
- Scotland#52
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.
William
will, desire + helmet, protection
From the Germanic elements wil (will, resolve) and helm (helmet, protection) — often glossed together as "resolute protector".
Willahelm → Wilhelm → Willelm → William
How it traveled
The name begins in continental Germanic as Willahelm and spread widely in Frankish and Old High German territory as Wilhelm. The Normans carried their own form of it into England in the eleventh century, where William the Conqueror's victory in 1066 made it instantly fashionable among the Anglo-Norman ruling class; within a few generations it was among the commonest men's names in England.
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.
William
WIL-yum
Stress on the first syllable. Two syllables in ordinary speech, sometimes drawn out to three (WIL-ee-um) in careful or formal delivery.
- Will — The most current short form, used informally and increasingly registered on its own.
- Liam — Originally the Irish short form of Uilliam; now overwhelmingly given as a full name in its own right rather than as a nickname for William.
- Bill — A long-standing informal form; strongly represented among older generations of Williams.
- Billy — Informal and affectionate, used for boys and men alike, and also given as a standalone name.
- Also Willie, Wills.
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
William
William Shakespeare (b. 1564) — The most famous writer who ever lived
William Blake (b. 1757) — Visionary poet and artist
William Butler Yeats (b. 1865) — Nobel Prize-winning Irish poet
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 with more sound in itBenjamin runs 3 syllables, William 2
Choose William if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesWilliam is 2 syllables to Benjamin's 3
- plenty of nickname options6 recorded short forms — Will, Liam and Bill
- a name that charts abroad tooWilliam is on the national lists of Canada, England & Wales and Scotland
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.
William
Strengths
- Spelled and pronounced correctly on first hearing by virtually every English speaker, with no competing variant spellings to explain.
- An unbroken record in English since the eleventh century, and still given to babies now — long past the point where a name can date a person.
- Unusually rich in short forms: Will, Bill, Billy, Willie, Wills, each with real historical use, so the bearer has room to choose.
To consider
- It is genuinely common and always has been. Expect other Williams in the classroom, the workplace and quite possibly the extended family.
- You cannot fully control which short form sticks. Coaches, cousins and classmates may land on Bill, Billy or Willie regardless of what you use at home.
- Because it is so well established among older generations, many Williams alive today are grandfathers and great-grandfathers — lovely if you want that continuity, worth knowing if you don't.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
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 William 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 William?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Beloved classics quietly disappearing
- America's top 100 names right now
- The top-10 club: every name that made it
- all guides
Every list here names both Benjamin and William — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Benjamin or William — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Benjamin or William?
- William, in 2025: William ranked #9 with 10,545 babies; Benjamin ranked #11 with 9,762 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Benjamin or William?
- Neither is rising. Over the last five years Benjamin moved down 4 places; William moved down 4 places.
- Which is the older name, Benjamin or William?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named Benjamin and William?
- About 721,000 people named Benjamin are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 2,248,000 people named William are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Benjamins or Williams in the classroom?
- Roughly 1 in 7 classrooms will have a child named Benjamin. Roughly 1 in 6 classrooms will have a child named William.
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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