Name Benjamin - meaning, origin, numerology

Benjamin is a popular given name for males, derived from Hebrew בנימין translating as "son of my right [hand]", though in the Samaritan Pentateuch, the name appears as ࠁࠍࠉࠌࠉࠌ, "Binyaamem" 'Son of my days'. It is often shortened to Ben, and sometimes to Benny, or Benjy. Benjamin is also a patronymic surname. Like many biblical names, it is popular in the Jewish, Christian and Muslim faiths alike, having many variant forms in other languages.

The "Benjamin of the family" is a phrase used in several languages to refer to the youngest son - especially when he is much younger than his brothers; sometimes the name is chosen for a son born to mature parents unlikely to have more children, especially if he has several older siblings. Both of these usages derive from the biblical son of Jacob of that name, who occupied that position in his family.

English (also French and German): of biblical origin. Benjamin was one of the founders of the twelve tribes of Israel, the youngest of the twelve sons of Jacob. His mother Rachel died in giving birth to him, and in her last moments she named him Benoni, meaning ‘son of my sorrow’. His father, however, did not wish him to bear such an ill-omened name, and renamed him Benyamin (Genesis 35: 16–18; 42: 4). This means either ‘son of the right hand’ or more likely ‘son of the south’ (Hebrew yamin can also mean ‘south’), since Benjamin was the only child of Jacob born in Canaan and not in Mesopotamia to the north. Another tradition is that the second element of the name is a variant of the Hebrew word yamim which means ‘days’ but is used idiomatically to mean ‘year’ or ‘years’. The name would then mean ‘son of (my) old age’ and refer to the fact that Benjamin was Jacob's youngest child. In the Middle Ages the name was often given to sons whose mothers had died in childbirth. Today it has no such unfortunate associations, but is still mainly a Jewish name. In the Scottish Highlands it has been used as an Anglicized form of the Gaelic name Beathan.
Variant: Jewish: Binyamin (the modern Hebrew form).
Cognate: Russian: Venyamin.
Short form: English: Ben.
Pet forms: English: Benny, Bennie, Benji(e).

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