Benaiah is a Hebrew name that means "God has built" or "God builds up", from banah, to build, and Yah, God. In the Old Testament Benaiah son of Jehoiada is one of King David's mighty warriors, famous for killing a lion in a pit on a snowy day. In the United States Benaiah has climbed from number 5318 in 2000 to number 1170 in 2025, its highest rank so far.