Benoit

Benoît (French: [bənwa] ) is a French male given name. It is less frequently spelled Benoist. The name comes from the Latin word benedictus , which means "the one who says the good", equivalent in meaning to Bénédicte or the English name Benedict. A female derivative of the name is Benoîte.

The personal name Benoît is to be distinguished from Benoit as a family name, which is usually spelled without the circumflex accent. Early form of the name was spelled with an "s" (Benoist), but as with many words in the French language, the "s" was eventually replaced with a circumflex accent over the "i".