Ben Affleck’s Very Unusual But Meaningful Middle Name

Ben Affleck may be one of the most familiar names in Hollywood, but there’s one detail about it that still catches fans off guard — his middle name. The Oscar-winning actor’s full name is Benjamin Géza Affleck, and the story behind that unusual name is as moving as it is meaningful.

Ben Affleck Reveals the Powerful Meaning Behind His Middle Name

Affleck has opened up about a detail fans may not have known — the emotional story behind his middle name. While being honored by the Writers Guild of America in 2015, the actor shared that his middle name, Geza, comes from a Hungarian Holocaust survivor who inspired his mother.

“My parents named me after a Hungarian friend of theirs named Geza,” the “Gone Girl” star said, per the Boston Herald. “When I got to be in the fourth or fifth grade I threw a huge fit and I was like, ‘You are the worst namer of people in the world!’ … Everybody calls me, ‘Ben-Gay’ … This was way before being gay was as cool as it is now.

“My mom told me that Geza was a friend of hers who died around the time I was born. He was a Holocaust survivor from Hungary and he was the most exceptional person she knew. He had leapt from a train during the Holocaust taking Jews to the death camps, and he went back to save several other people to try to break them out.

“She told me 6 million Jews were murdered and that men like him, brave and selfless, were what stood between us and the evil that people were capable of doing to one another. That name has never been anything short of a tremendous honor to me since that day. I came to understand and better identify with the suffering of others.”

Affleck’s Middle Name Also Sparked Buzz When He Married Jennifer Lopez

When Affleck and Jennifer Lopez tied the knot in 2022, fans couldn’t stop talking — not just about the surprise Vegas wedding, but also about his full legal name.

Lopez shared the intimate details on her website, OnTheJLo, writing, “We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient.”

After Lopez legally changed her name to Jennifer Affleck, the internet exploded with reactions and playful nicknames like “J. Fleck” and “J. Flo.” Some fans also pointed out that this wasn’t the first time the actor had a Jennifer Affleck in his life — his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, also used the name while they were married.

But eagle-eyed fans spotted something else on the couple’s marriage license that drew even more attention — Affleck’s middle name. Listed as “Géza,” the name quickly became a trending topic online, with people curious about its meaning and Hungarian roots.

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