Benyamin בנימין is composed of two wors: ben and yamin, meaning son of and right,, or literally, Son of Right, as opposed to left.
Benyamin בנימין means Son of my right hand. son of my right hand.
Since the root for right is identical to that for south, Benyamin בנימין also literally translated as Son of the South; refering to the birth of Benyamin בנימין in Canaan, as compared with the birth of all the other sons of Jacob in Aram.
In the Samaritan Pentateuch, the name is written as Benyamim בן ימים - with a terminal mem, literally translated as son of days; this may have been the original form, in reference to the old age of Jacob when Benyamin בנימין was born.
Variants:
* Benjamin
* Binyāmîn
Nicknames:
* Ben
* Benny
* Benjy
The name arose when Jacob deliberately corrupted the name Benoni, the original name.
Benon means means Son of My Pain, an allusion to Rachel dying just after she had given birth.