Explore the Family Name Benway

The meaning of Benway

Americanized form of French Benoît (see Benoit), reflecting the Canadian and American French pronunciation of the diphthong oî as ‘wé’, which in France was replaced in the 17th century by the current ‘wa’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Benway in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Benway has slightly declined between 2000 and 2010. In 2000, the name was ranked 17,521st in popularity, but by 2010 it had fallen to the 18,253rd spot, a decrease of approximately 4.18%. The total count of people with this surname increased from 1,482 in 2000 to 1,522 in 2010, an increase of about 2.7%. However, when examined as a proportion of the population per 100,000 people, there is a decline of 5.45% from 0.55 in 2000 to 0.52 in 2010.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#17,521	#18,253	-4.18%
Count	1,482	1,522	2.7%
Proportion per 100k	0.55	0.52	-5.45%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Benway

When examining the ethnic identity associated with the surname Benway, we find that the majority of individuals identifying with this name are of White ethnicity, according to the Decennial U.S. Census. In 2000, 95.68% of Benways identified as White, and although this number decreased slightly to 94.28% in 2010, it still remains the predominant ethnic identity. There was a notable increase in the percentage of Benways identifying as Hispanic, from 1.42% in 2000 to 2.83% in 2010. The percentage of those identifying as two or more races decreased from 1.55% to 0.99%, and the percentage of American Indian and Alaskan Native increased slightly from 0.88% to 1.05%. No Benways identified as Asian/Pacific Islander or Black for both years.

	2000	2010	Change
White	95.68%	94.28%	-1.46%
Hispanic	1.42%	2.83%	99.3%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.88%	1.05%	19.32%
Two or More Races	1.55%	0.99%	-36.13%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0%	0%
Black	0%	0%	0%