Meaning and background
The story behind Benson
Benson is often explained as an English patronymic, meaning a son of Ben, usually a short form of Benedict. A scholarly surname dictionary, however, also records a separate Oxfordshire place-name origin and other Scandinavian, German and Jewish family-name pathways. It would be inaccurate to insist that every historical Benson comes from the same ancestor. Its two-syllable sound works without relying on a chosen derivation.
- Origin
- English surname with patronymic Ben(ne) + -son; also habitational and other regional origins Source
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About Benson
Recorded as a dog’s name
Benson appears in 20 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/bɛnsən/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/bɛnsən/ · primary stress on syllable 1B EH1 N S AH0 N
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
Gender association: NYC licence-period records. Any dog can use this name.
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.