Barnard
A masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "hardy" or "brave as a bear".
Name Census estimates that about 448 living Americans carry the first name Barnard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Barnard today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Barnard births was 1963 (25 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Barnard. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
448
~ 1 in 765,077 Americans
Peak year
1963
25 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
1998 SSA rank
#8,583
Tracked since 1891
Popularity
Barnard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Barnard from the 1890s through to the 1990s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 178 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Barnard by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Barnard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Barnards live
Origin
Meaning and history of Barnard
The name Barnard is an English given name derived from the Old French and Germanic roots "barn" and "hard." The name can be traced back to the 11th century and was initially used to refer to someone who was hardy, strong, or brave like a bear.
In the Middle Ages, the name Barnard was particularly popular among the Norman nobility who had settled in England following the Norman Conquest of 1066. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which lists several individuals with the name Barnard as landowners and tenants.
The name Barnard has also been associated with religious figures throughout history. One notable example is Saint Barnard of Vienne, who lived in the 6th century and served as the Archbishop of Vienne in modern-day France. He is venerated as a patron saint of several French towns and villages.
In the 12th century, the name Barnard gained prominence with the rise of the Cistercian monastic order. Barnard of Clairvaux, born in 1090, was a renowned French abbot and theologian who played a significant role in the development of the Cistercian order. He is remembered for his influential writings and his contribution to the spread of monastic ideals.
Another notable figure who bore the name Barnard was Barnard of Pavia, a 12th-century Italian architect and sculptor. He is best known for his work on the Cathedral of Modena, which is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture.
In the 16th century, the name Barnard was associated with the English philosopher and statesman, Francis Bacon, who was born in 1561. His full name was Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban, but he was also known by his childhood nickname, Barnard.
In the 19th century, the name Barnard gained prominence in the United States with the birth of Frederick Augustus Porter Barnard in 1809. He was an American educator and mathematician who served as the president of Columbia University from 1864 to 1889.
People
Barnard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Barnard as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Barnard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Barnard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 448 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Barnard going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 765,077 US residents.
Is Barnard a common name?
We classify Barnard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 83.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 895 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Barnard most popular?
The single biggest year for Barnard was 1963, when 25 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Barnard is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Barnard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Barnard in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.