Date
Name Ben
Gender Masculine & Feminine
Usage Japanese
Scripts 勉, 弁, 便 (kanji), べん (hiragana), ベン (katakana)
Edit Status Status
Meaning & History
This name is used as 勉 (ben, tsuto.meru) meaning "exertion," 弁/辨 (hen, ben, araso.u, hanabira, wakima.eru, wa.keru) meaning "dialect, petal, speech" or 便 (bin, ben, tayo.ri) meaning "convenience."In the Edo Period (1603-1868), particularly in the latter part, this name was (uncommonly) given to girls and though it was mainly written in hiragana at the time, it may be related to 弁/辨. This name continued to be used in the Meiji period (1868-1912), though by then, the name gradually shifted to being a masculine-majority name. Since the second half of the 20th century, it's rarely given to boys, if given at all.