Beneš (feminine Benešová) is common Czech and Slovak surname. The surname was derived from the shortened Czech form of the given name Benedict (latin name of meaning "blessed", see also the surname Benedict). In the old Czech orthography the word was written as Beness, the germanized form is Benesch.
Notable people with the surname include:
Alan Benes (born 1972), American Major League Baseball pitcher
Andy Benes (born 1967), American Major League Baseball pitcher
Edvard Beneš (1884 - 1948), leader of the Czechoslovak independence movement and the second President of Czechoslovakia
Iveta Benešová (born 1983), Czech professional tennis player
Jan Beneš (1936 - 2007), Czech writer, translator, publicist and screenwriter
Jan Beneš (born 1987), Czech orienteering competitor, and junior world champion
Juraj Beneš (1940 - 2004), Slovak opera and orchestral composer
Josef Beneš (1902 - 1984), Czech linguist
Ladislav Beneš (born 1943) Czech handball player
Libuše Benešová, Czech politician
Lubomír Beneš (1935 – 1995) Czech animator, director and author
Luděk Beneš Czechoslovak slalom canoer
Marie Benešová, Czech politician
Marijan Beneš (born 1951), Yugoslav boxer
Pavel Beneš chief designer at ČKD-Prague
Petr Beneš, Czech volleyball player
Thomas A. Benes, (1951-2014) United States Marine Corps general
Václav Beneš Třebízský (1849-1884) Czech novelist
Vaclav E. Benes (born 1925), American mathematician and probability theorist, developer of the Benes network
Vít Beneš, Czech footballer
Vojta Beneš (1878 - 1951), Czechoslovak educator and political leader and brother of Edvard Beneš
Božena Benešová (1873–1936), Czech poet and author
Fictional characters:
Alton Benes, Elaine Benes's father on Seinfeld
Elaine Benes, Julia Louis-Dreyfus' character on Seinfeld
Sandra Benes, a character on Space: 1999
