benjamin

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

• Canada, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbɛnd͡ʒəmɪn/
  Play
• Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  Play
• General-American: /ˈbɛnd͡ʒəmɪn/
  Play
• General-American: /ˈbɛnd͡ʒɚmɪn/
  Play
• US, pin-pen-merger: /ˈbɪnd͡ʒəmɪn/
  Play
• US, pin-pen-merger: /ˈbɪnd͡ʒɚmɪn/
  Play
• Australian: /ˈbend͡ʒəmɪn/
  Play
• New-Zealand: /ˈbend͡ʒəmən/
  Play
• /ˈbɛnd͡ʒəmɪn/
  Play
• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  Play
• CMU ARPABET: B EH1 N JH AH0 M AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  Play

From Late Latin Benjamin, from Ancient Greek Βενιαμίν (Beniamín), from Biblical Hebrew בִּנְיָמִין (binyamīn, literally “son of the right/south or son of days”). Authorities differ on the meaning of the original Hebrew. Philo of Alexandria, the Samaritan Pentateuch The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs and Midrash Leḳaḥ-Ṭob understand יָמִין to mean "days" (a meaning attested in Daniel 12:13) understanding the name to mean "son of days (i.e. old age)" (compare to the direct translations into Arabic بِنْ يَومِين (bin yawmīn) "son of the days" and Arabic بِنْ يَمِين (bin yamīn) "son of the right hand"), a formula paraphrased in Genesis 40:22 where Benjamin is described as a child of Jacob's old age. Rashi in his commentary on Genesis also gives this as a possible meaning but favors an understanding of יָמִין to mean "right" in the sense of "the south", noting that Benjamin was the only son of Jacob born in the south. Jerome understood the name to mean "son of the right hand" and Gesenius speculated that this expression might have meant "son of good fortune".

From benzoin, modified by folk etymology to match the name Benjamin.

From the image of Benjamin Franklin on the US $100 bill.

121 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Albanian: Beniamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Albanian: Benjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Albanian: Bunjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Albanian: Veniamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Arabic: بِنْيَامِين (binyāmīn) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Arabic: بَنْيَامِين (banyāmīn) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Armenian: Բենիամին (Beniamin) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Belarusian: Веніямі́н (Vjenijamín) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Bulgarian: Вениами́н (Veniamín) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Catalan: Benjamí — the youngest son of Jacob
• Chechen: Биньямин (Binjamin) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Cherokee: ᏇᏂ (queni) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Chinese Mandarin: 便雅憫 /便雅悯 (Biànyǎmǐn) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Chinese Mandarin: 本雅明 (Běnyǎmíng) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Czech: Benjamín — the youngest son of Jacob
• Danish: Benjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Esperanto: Benjameno — the youngest son of Jacob
• Finnish: Benjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• French: Benjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• German: Benjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Greek: Βενιαμίν (Veniamín) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Ancient Greek: Βενιαμίν (Beniamín) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Gujarati: બિન્યામીન (binyāmīn) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Hawaiian: Beniamina — the youngest son of Jacob
• Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין (binyamin) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Hindi: बिन्यामीन (binyāmīn) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Hungarian: Benjámin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Irish: Biniáimin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Italian: Beniamino — the youngest son of Jacob
• Japanese: ベニヤミン (Beniyamin) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Kazakh: Бунямин (Bunämin) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Latin: Benjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Latin: Beniamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Latin: Beniāmīnus — the youngest son of Jacob
• Malay: Bunyamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Malay: Benyamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Maltese: Benjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Norwegian: Benjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Old English: Beniamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Persian: بنیامین (benyâmin) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Polish: Beniamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Portuguese: Benjamim — the youngest son of Jacob
• Russian: Вениами́н (Veniamín) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Scottish Gaelic: Beniàmin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Sicilian: Binjaminu — the youngest son of Jacob
• Sicilian: Biniaminu — the youngest son of Jacob
• Spanish: Benjamín — the youngest son of Jacob
• Swahili: Benyamini — the youngest son of Jacob
• Swedish: Benjamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Tamil: பென்யமீன் (peṉyamīṉ) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Tibetan: བེན་ཡ་མིན། (ben ya min) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Tumbuka: Benjamini — the youngest son of Jacob
• Turkish: Benyamin — the youngest son of Jacob
• Ukrainian: Веніями́н (Venijamýn) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Ukrainian: Веніамі́н (Veniamín) — the youngest son of Jacob
• Albanian: Beniamín — male given name
• Albanian: Benijamín — male given name
• Albanian: Benjamín — male given name
• Albanian: Veniamín — male given name
• Amharic: ቢንያም (binyam) — male given name
• Arabic: بِنْيَامِين (binyāmīn) — male given name
• Arabic: بَنْيَامِين (banyāmīn) — male given name
• Armenian: Բենիամին (Beniamin) — male given name
• Belarusian: Веніямі́н (Vjenijamín) — male given name
• Bulgarian: Бе́нджамин (Béndžamin) — male given name
• Bulgarian: Вениами́н (Veniamín) — male given name
• Catalan: Benjamí — male given name
• Cherokee: ᏇᏂ (queni) — male given name
• Chinese Mandarin: 本傑明 /本杰明 (Běnjiémíng) — male given name
• Czech: Benjamín — male given name
• Danish: Benjamin — male given name
• Esperanto: Benjameno — male given name
• Finnish: Benjamin — male given name
• Finnish: Penjami — male given name
• French: Benjamin — male given name
• Galician: Benxamín — male given name
• German: Benjamin — male given name
• Greek: Βενιαμίν (Veniamín) — male given name
• Greek: Βενιαμίνος (Veniamínos) — male given name
• Hawaiian: Peniʻamina — male given name
• Hebrew: בִּנְיָמִין (binyamin) — male given name
• Hindi: बेंजामिन (beñjāmin) — male given name
• Hungarian: Benjámin — male given name
• Icelandic: Benjamín — male given name
• Italian: Beniamino — male given name
• Japanese: ベンジャミン — male given name
• Korean: 베냐민 (benyamin) — male given name
• Korean: 벤자민 (benjamin) — male given name
• Latin: Benjamin — male given name
• Latin: Beniamin — male given name
• Latvian: Benjamīns — male given name
• Latvian: Bendžamins — male given name
• Lithuanian: Benjaminas — male given name
• Macedonian: Бенџамин (Bendžamin) — male given name
• Macedonian: Венјамин (Venjamin) — male given name
• Malay: Bunyamin — male given name
• Maltese: Benjaminu — male given name
• Māori: Peneāmine — male given name
• Māori: Penamene — male given name
• Norman: Benjamîn — male given name
• Norwegian: Benjamin — male given name
• Old English: Beniamin — male given name
• Persian: بنجامین (benjâmin) — male given name
• Persian: بنیامین (benyâmin) — male given name
• Polish: Beniamin — male given name
• Portuguese: Benjamim — male given name
• Romanian: Benjamin — male given name
• Russian: Вениами́н (Veniamín) — male given name
• Russian: Бе́нджамин (Béndžamin) — male given name
• Sami: Benjáme — male given name
• Serbo-Croatian: Бењамин — male given name
• Serbo-Croatian: Benjamin — male given name
• Slovak: Benjamín — male given name
• Spanish: Benjamín — male given name
• Swedish: Benjamin — male given name
• Tamil: பென்யமீன் (peṉyamīṉ) — male given name
• Telugu: బెంజమిన్ (beñjamin) — male given name
• Turkish: Bünyamin — male given name
• Turkish: Benyamin — male given name
• Ukrainian: Веніамі́н (Veniamín) — male given name
• Yiddish: בנימין (binyomen) — male given name