Beorn
A masculine name of Old Norse origin meaning "bear".
Name Census estimates that about 79 living Americans carry the first name Beorn. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Beorn today is around 7 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Beorn births was 2017 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Beorn. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Beorn with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Beorn. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
79
~ 1 in 4,338,663 Americans
Peak year
2017
10 babies that year
Average age
7
years old
2024 SSA rank
#10,004
Tracked since 2015
Popularity
Beorn: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Beorn from the 2010s through to the 2020s, spanning 2 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2020s, with 41 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Beorn 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 Beorn during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Beorn
The name Beorn is of Old English origin, derived from the words "beorn" and "bera" which both mean "warrior" or "brave man". It was a common name among the Anglo-Saxons during the 5th to 11th centuries in areas that are now part of England.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name appears in the epic poem Beowulf, written sometime between the 8th and 11th centuries. In the poem, Beorn is a character described as a powerful and fearless warrior. This literary reference suggests the name was associated with strength and bravery.
In the later Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a historical record from the 9th century, there is mention of a Beorn who was an ealdorman or nobleman in the kingdom of Mercia. This indicates the name was used among the upper classes of Anglo-Saxon society.
Variations of the spelling include Bearn, Biorn, and Bjorn, which reflect the name's Old Norse roots and its use among the Vikings who settled in parts of Britain during the 8th to 11th centuries. Beorn is likely a Christianized form of the Old Norse name Bjorn, meaning "bear".
Notable historical figures with the name Beorn include Beorn Butrug, an 11th-century Anglo-Saxon nobleman who fought alongside King Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Another was Beorn Beresun, an 11th-century Anglo-Danish thegn or landowner from the East Midlands region of England.
In the 12th century, Beorn de Crevequer was a Norman nobleman who served as Sheriff of Worcestershire under King Henry I. Around the same time, Beorn Culvert was an English monk and chronicler known for his writings on the history of the Battle of Hastings.
One of the last notable uses of the name in medieval England was Beorn Underhill, a 14th-century landowner and knight from Warwickshire who fought in the Hundred Years' War against France.
People
Beorn + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Beorn 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
Beorn: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Beorn?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Beorn 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 4,338,663 US residents.
Is Beorn a common name?
We classify Beorn as "Very Rare". It ranks above 61.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 80 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Beorn most popular?
The single biggest year for Beorn was 2017, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Beorn is about 7 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Beorn in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Beorn a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Beorn 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.
Is Beorn still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Beorn in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Beorn can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
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.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only covers names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files do not have a published Census demographic snapshot. In those cases, the page still shows the SSA trend, gender history, and state data.
How many Americans are named Beorn?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.