diff --git a/bench/atom.c b/bench/atom.c
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d78f64
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bench/atom.c
@@ -0,0 +1,93 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright © 2021 Ran Benita <ran@unusedvar.com>
+ *
+ * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
+ * copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
+ * to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
+ * the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
+ * and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
+ * Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
+ *
+ * The above copyright notice and this permission notice (including the next
+ * paragraph) shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the
+ * Software.
+ *
+ * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+ * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+ * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT.  IN NO EVENT SHALL
+ * THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
+ * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING
+ * FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
+ * DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
+ */
+
+#include "config.h"
+
+#include <stdbool.h>
+#include <stdint.h>
+#include <stdio.h>
+#include <string.h>
+#include <time.h>
+
+#include "atom.h"
+#include "bench.h"
+#include "darray.h"
+
+#define BENCHMARK_ITERATIONS 100
+
+int
+main(void)
+{
+    FILE *file;
+    char wordbuf[1024];
+    darray(char *) words;
+    char **worditer;
+    struct atom_table *table;
+    xkb_atom_t atom;
+    const char *text;
+    struct bench bench;
+    char *elapsed;
+
+    darray_init(words);
+    file = fopen("/usr/share/dict/words", "rb");
+    if (file == NULL) {
+        perror("/usr/share/dict/words");
+        return -1;
+    }
+    while (fgets(wordbuf, sizeof(wordbuf), file)) {
+        size_t len = strlen(wordbuf);
+        if (len > 0 && wordbuf[len - 1] == '\n')
+            wordbuf[len - 1] = '\0';
+        darray_append(words, strdup(wordbuf));
+    }
+    fclose(file);
+
+    bench_start(&bench);
+    for (int i = 0; i < BENCHMARK_ITERATIONS; i++) {
+        table = atom_table_new();
+        assert(table);
+
+        darray_foreach(worditer, words) {
+            atom = atom_intern(table, *worditer, strlen(*worditer) - 1, true);
+            assert(atom != XKB_ATOM_NONE);
+
+            text = atom_text(table, atom);
+            assert(text != NULL);
+        }
+
+        atom_table_free(table);
+    }
+    bench_stop(&bench);
+
+    elapsed = bench_elapsed_str(&bench);
+    fprintf(stderr, "%d iterations in %ss\n",
+            BENCHMARK_ITERATIONS, elapsed);
+    free(elapsed);
+
+    darray_foreach(worditer, words) {
+        free(*worditer);
+    }
+    darray_free(words);
+
+    return 0;
+}
diff --git a/meson.build b/meson.build
index 9c238be..f178ead 100644
--- a/meson.build
+++ b/meson.build
@@ -751,6 +751,11 @@ benchmark(
     executable('bench-compose', 'bench/compose.c', dependencies: test_dep),
     env: bench_env,
 )
+benchmark(
+    'atom',
+    executable('bench-atom', 'bench/atom.c', dependencies: test_dep),
+    env: bench_env,
+)
 if get_option('enable-x11')
   benchmark(
       'x11',