Bence

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Bence is also recorded as another name, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Croatian given name776 records spelled Bence8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Croatia, Serbia

  Languages: Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian

  Also written Бенце

49 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Bence is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Ernisms filius Bence 1175 P (Y); Ærnulfus filius Benze 1178 P (Nb); Osmund Benz 1066, 1086 DB (Db); William Bence 1279 RH (O). OG Benzo. A diminutive Benzelinus occurs in DB (O, W) and gave rise to a surname in Suffolk (Seman Bencelyn 1327 SRSf), side by side with Bence (Roger Bence 1327 SRSf), whilst the feminine Bencelina is found in Kent (1207 Cur).

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In Hungarian, a male given name, equivalent to English Vincent

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In German, männl. Vom., ungarische Form von

  as a name·DUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen

• In Turkish, I think, in my opinion

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In ang, inflection of benċ:

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

HU KSH — births by given name — 25 years between 2000–2024. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Bence Szabolcsib. 1899HUHungarian music historian (1899–1973)
• Bence Szabób. 1962HUHungarian fencer
• Bence Gyöngyössyb. 1963HUHungarian film director
• Bence Péterb. 1991HUHungarian pianist
• Bence Biczób. 1993HUHungarian swimmer
• Bence Mervób. 1995HUHungarian footballer (born 1995)
• Bence Nádasb. 1996HUcanoeist
• Bence Halászb. 1997HUHungarian athletics competitor
• Bence Pávkovicsb. 1997HUHungarian association football player
• Bence Dárdaib. 2006DEGerman association football player

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 193 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Bence?

We estimate roughly 60 thousand people bear Bence (counting its spellings and scripts) across 10 countries in our records.

In which country does Bence have the most bearers?

We estimate about 59 thousand people bear Bence in Hungary, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled bence.

Where is Bence most common?

Bence is densest in Hungary, where the national register counts about 1 in 166 people carrying it.

How common is Bence compared with other names?

In Hungary, Bence is the 42nd most common given name of 18,750 given names recorded there.

Is Bence a male or female name?

Bence is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Bence mean?

Recorded meaning: from OG Benzo; first attested Ernisms filius Bence 1175 P (Yorkshire)