Ben 1

Short form of any names that begin with Ben.

In 2018, 48 is the most common age for an American (U.S.) Ben* who is registered male with the Social Security Administration. It is the 834th most common male first name for living U.S. citizens.

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*as a first name, not a nickname.

The name Ben was given to 347 boys born in the US in 2016.
More than 99.9 percent of people with the first name Ben are male.

This is the #1 place name currently in Germany for males. (source: http://www.beliebte-vornamen.de/jahrgang/j2016).

Ben is often used in Israel as a stand-alone name, simply meaning "son".

Ben is such a bland boring name, if it were my name I would have to change it by deedpoll, with so many fantastic names to choose from - why Ben?

As mentioned, the word "Ben" means "son" in Hebrew. Similar to other cultures, ancient Hebrew also lacked last names, and a child would recieve his father's name as a last name with the word "Ben" attached to it. Ex: King David's father was Yishay (Jesse). Thereore, David's full name was David Ben-Yishay (David son-of-Yishay).

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Nowdays, this beautiful tradition is no longer a part of Jewish or Hebrew culture, but last names containing "Ben" are very common. For example, David Ben-Guryon - Israel's first Prime-minister (who was born as David Green and later changed his name).

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In other cases, the initial "Ben" is being used for first names such as Ben-Zion. A famous one is Ben-Zion Netanyahu, father of Benjamin Netanyahu - Israel's former P.M. and current minister of finance.