Bina
Feminine · “Understanding”
Bina is Yiddish for understanding, and the Hebrew word behind it is one of the ten sefirot of Kabbalah — the faculty that takes a flash of insight and works it out. It was an ordinary Ashkenazi women's name, and its American peak is 1885.
How old is the name Bina?
Bina first appears in US birth records in 1881 — 144 years ago. The typical Bina alive today was born around 1973, making them about 52 years old. About 800 people named Bina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bina most popular?
Bina peaked in 1885, reaching #658 nationally. Today it ranks #5410, 4,752 places below that high. See the whole 1885 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From bīnāh to Bina
The story of Bina
Binah is the third of the sefirot in Kabbalah, the analytical understanding that develops what Chokhmah supplies as a flash — an unusually abstract thing for a name to carry. As a Yiddish women's name Bina was ordinary in eastern Europe, often paired with a Hebrew name in the Ashkenazi custom of giving a child both. The American peak in 1885 belongs to the German Jewish migration that preceded the much larger eastern European one, and the name declined sharply after 1920 as the second generation chose English names. It survives in Orthodox and Hasidic communities.
Meaningscholars disagree
Understanding, discernment
Yiddish Bina is generally connected to Hebrew bīnāh, understanding or discernment, from a root meaning to distinguish or discern. That reading is the usual one. A second derivation treats Bina as a Yiddish diminutive of a Germanic name, or as a clipping of Sabina or Albina, both of which were also in use. Neither is ruled out.
How the name formed
- bīnāh
- Bina
Related forms: בִּינָה · בינה · Bine
Pronouncing Bina
BEE-nah
Two syllables, stress on the first. Hebrew bīnāh puts the stress on the second, bee-NAH, and Yiddish generally on the first.
Nicknames for Bina
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
- 1881
- Most girls named
- 202523 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #658reached in 1885
- Change vs 2023
- +35.3%23 in 2025, from 17
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.
Bina in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- בִּינָה in Hebrew — related form
- בינה in Yiddish — transliteration
- Bine in German — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: New York, New Jersey.
Binas among us
people named Bina are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 69,881 born in 2025 was named Bina
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Bina
- #5410
- Bina on the 2025 chart
- #931
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Bina went to 23 girls in 2025, but Binah is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 29, which makes it the 931st most-given girls’ name of the year — 4,479 places above the chart.
- Bina23
- Binah6
About 1 girl in 55,423 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 69,881 for Bina itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Bina 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
Bina beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bina in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The meaning is settled and unusually intellectual for a short name.
- Four letters and two open syllables travel anywhere.
- Everyone can say it after one hearing.
- Bina, Beena and Bena are all in use in transliteration.
- It is unfamiliar outside Jewish communities and will be spelled out.
- The Hebrew and Yiddish stress differ.
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What they receive
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Bina
Feminine · #5410 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Binas are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 800 people named Bina are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Bina?
- Bina is the most-used spelling in US records — 23 of the 29 babies given the name in 2025. The others recorded are Binah.
- How popular is the name Bina in 2025?
- Bina ranks #5410 among US girl names in 2025, with 23 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bina?
- About 1 in every 69,881 US girls born in 2025 was named Bina — 23 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bina with classmates?
- Bina will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bina
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Aina#5410 · Sherry#5410 · Kathia#5410 · Taj#5410 · Analicia#5410 · Divya#5410 · Halimah#5410 · Leo#5410
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bina? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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