Beniamin
From Hebrew, "son of the right hand". Always given to boys, and after years hovering in the low hundreds it is climbing fast: more baby boys got it last year than in any year this century, though it stays rare enough that most Poles have never met one.
Beniamin Pronunciation
Beniamin is pronounced be-NYAH-meen (/bɛˈɲamin/).
What Beniamin means
Where Beniamin comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Beniamin comes from the Hebrew Binyamin, which means son of the right hand. In the Book of Genesis the name belongs to the youngest son of Jacob and Rachel. Rachel, dying in childbirth, first called him Ben-Oni, son of my sorrow, and Jacob renamed the boy Binyamin. That small change of name turned grief toward the right hand, the side of strength and favour.
The right hand meant something exact in the ancient world. To sit at a person's right was to hold the place of honour. So son of the right hand reads more like a blessing on the child than a plain report of his birth.
Veniamin is the eastern form, the b softening to a v as the name crosses into Orthodox lands. In Poland the boy stays Beniamin. A teacher calling the class register reaches him between the other B names, and once a year he has his imieniny on the thirty-first of March. The sense holds through all of it: syn prawicy, son of the right hand.
When Beniamin celebrates name day
Beniamin appears 2 times in the Polish name day calendar, 1 of them as a main name, the first on 31 March.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Beniamin
1 in 4292 men in Poland is named Beniamin. 4,974 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #490 among male names.
Beniamin's popularity over time
226 boys were given the name in 2025, ranking #172 among newborns. It has been climbing since 2013.
Where parents choose Beniamin
Beniamin is most popular in Silesian, 70% above the national average (205 boys born 2019–2025), followed by Lower Silesian (+25%) and Masovian (+21%). It is least common in Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Warmian-Masurian, 60% and 55% below average respectively.
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Silesian
+70%1 in 1,110 babies
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Lower Silesian
+25%1 in 1,511 babies
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Masovian
+21%1 in 1,568 babies
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian
−60%1 in 4,756 babies
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Warmian-Masurian
−55%1 in 4,223 babies
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Podlaskie
−40%1 in 3,133 babies
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Silesian+70% 205 born1 in 1,110 babies+70%
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Lower Silesian+25% 104 born1 in 1,511 babies+25%
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Masovian+21% 226 born1 in 1,568 babies+21%
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Lesser Poland+16% 139 born1 in 1,632 babies+16%
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Pomeranian+6% 83 born1 in 1,775 babies+6%
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Opole−6% 23 born1 in 2,004 babies−6%
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Greater Poland−15% 97 born1 in 2,219 babies−15%
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Holy Cross−15% 25 born1 in 2,217 babies−15%
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West Pomeranian−19% 36 born1 in 2,345 babies−19%
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Subcarpathian−26% 47 born1 in 2,565 babies−26%
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Lublin−30% 38 born1 in 2,702 babies−30%
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Łódź−34% 44 born1 in 2,880 babies−34%
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Lubusz−39% 16 born1 in 3,104 babies−39%
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Podlaskie−40% 21 born1 in 3,133 babies−40%
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Warmian-Masurian−55% 17 born1 in 4,223 babies−55%
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Kuyavian-Pomeranian−60% 23 born1 in 4,756 babies−60%
Beniamin as a middle name
Beniamin is a first name for 4,974 men in Poland and a middle name for another 2,470, a 67/33 split. In the men's middle-name ranking it sits 163rd, between Peter (2,478) and Kornel (2,469).
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#161 James2,511
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#162 Peter2,478
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#163 Beniamin2,470
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#164 Kornel2,469
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#165 Joseph2,419