Benito

Where Benito comes from

The dictionaries list Benito as a given name — a male given name from Spanish and Italian, equivalent to English Benedict — but don't trace where it came from. The record below is what the SSA data shows.

  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • Vowel-ended
Along the way
  1. 1843
    Benito Pérez Galdós born
    Spanish realist novelist
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #745 among boys — 7 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1883
    Benito Mussolini born
    dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1945
  4. 1929
    Peak, #512
    131 babies named Benito — more than any year before or since.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from Spanish and Italian, equivalent to English Benedict.
Namesakes
  • Benito Mussolini · dictator of Italy from 1922 to 1945, 1883–1945
  • Benito Pérez Galdós · Spanish realist novelist, 1843–1920
  • Benito Floro · Spanish association football player and manager, born 1952

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.