Bentlee
Masculine · “clearing in the bent grass”
Bentlee is given to both — 4,202 boys and 937 girls since 1880. See Bentlee as a girl nameSee other names given to both
Bentlee respells Bentley, and the English place name means the bent-grass clearing — beonet and leah, two of the plainest Old English words there are.
How old is the name Bentlee?
Bentlee first appears in US birth records in 2007 — 18 years ago. The typical Bentlee is a kid of about 10 — this name's wave is very recent. About 4,200 people named Bentlee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bentlee most popular?
Bentlee peaked in 2012, reaching #576 nationally. Today it ranks #1728, 1,152 places below that high. See the whole 2012 chart.
Where it comes from
From beonet leah to Bentlee
The story of Bentlee
Bentley was an English place name and surname; W. O. Bentley founded the car company in 1919. American given-name use rose sharply from the 2000s, helped by a child of that name on a reality television series in 2009, and the respellings followed. Bentlee appears in the registers from that period and is in current use.
Meaning
clearing in the bent grass
From the Old English beonet, 'bent grass' — a coarse rush-like grass of poor ground — and leah, 'wood' or 'clearing'. Several English villages are called Bentley. Both elements are ordinary and the compound is transparent and undisputed.
How the name formed
- beonet leah
- Bentley
- Bentlee
Related forms: Bentley · Bentleigh
Pronouncing Bentlee
BENT-lee
Two syllables, stress on the first. Bentlee, Bentley and Bentleigh are said identically.
Nicknames for Bentlee
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 2007
- Most boys named
- 2012446 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #576reached in 2012
- Change vs 2024
- −13.0%94 in 2025, from 108
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Bentlee in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bentley in English — spelling variant
- Bentleigh in English — spelling variant
Strongest US states over the last decade: Ohio, Texas, Tennessee.
Bentlees among us
people named Bentlee are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 18,171 born in 2025 was named Bentlee
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Reynold test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Bentlee's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Reynold climbed just as high around 1903, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Reynold's path sketches the road Bentlee is walking now.
Bentlee sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Bentlee is headed
Bentlee is easing off slowly — about 29% fewer babies a year by 2030 if the trend continues.
Medium confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Bentlee beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bentlee in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The bent-grass meaning is concrete and belongs to a real family of English place names.
- Ben and Lee are two short forms, both with enormous records.
- Two firm syllables that carry well against any surname.
- The car marque is a very strong association.
- Bentley is the standard spelling and will be assumed.
- It is closely dated to the 2010s in this spelling.
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What they receive
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Bentlee
Masculine · #1728 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bentlees are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 4,200 people named Bentlee are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bentlee in 2025?
- Bentlee ranks #1728 among US boy names in 2025, with 94 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bentlee?
- About 1 in every 18,171 US boys born in 2025 was named Bentlee — 94 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bentlee with classmates?
- Bentlee will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bentlee
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Clinton#1728 · Jahir#1728 · Eder#1728 · Fredrick#1728 · Anson#1728 · Kain#1728 · Wilmer#1728 · Simcha#1728
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bentlee? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bentlee and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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