Bernadina
A feminine diminutive form of the name Bernardine, of Germanic origin meaning "brave bear".
Name Census estimates that about 41 living Americans carry the first name Bernadina. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bernadina today is around 60 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bernadina births was 1969 (9 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bernadina. 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.
Key insights
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Bernadina. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
41
~ 1 in 8,359,862 Americans
Peak year
1969
9 babies that year
Average age
60
years old
1973 SSA rank
#7,514
Tracked since 1919
Census
Bernadina in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 249 people with the first name Bernadina, which placed it at #33,298 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#33,298
National first-name rank
People counted
249
249 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
67.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bernadina
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bernadina is Hispanic at 67.1%. The next largest groups are White (22.1%) and Black (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Bernadina described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Bernadina at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino67.1% · 167
- White22.1% · 55
- Black or African American6.8% · 17
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.0% · 5
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.0% · 5
Popularity
Bernadina: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bernadina from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 35 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
Bernadina 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 Bernadina 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 Bernadina
Bernadina is a feminine given name with roots in the Late Latin name Bernardina, which itself derives from the Germanic name Bernhard. The name Bernhard is composed of the elements "bern" meaning "bear" and "hard" meaning "brave" or "hardy." As such, the name Bernadina can be interpreted to mean "brave as a bear."
The name Bernadina first appeared in Europe during the Middle Ages, around the 9th or 10th century. It was particularly popular in regions with Germanic cultural influences, such as France, Germany, and parts of Italy. The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the 11th century, when it was used by members of the European nobility and aristocracy.
One of the earliest known historical figures to bear the name Bernadina was Bernadina of Marsal (c. 1070-1125), a French noblewoman who was instrumental in the founding of the Abbey of Remiremont in the Vosges region of France. Another notable early bearer of the name was Bernadina of Brandenburg (c. 1180-1246), a German princess who served as the Abbess of the Quedlinburg Abbey in Saxony.
During the Renaissance and Baroque periods, the name Bernadina gained popularity among the upper classes in Italy and Spain. One famous Italian bearer of the name was Bernadina Pico della Mirandola (1472-1520), a Renaissance scholar and philosopher who was part of the influential Pico della Mirandola family.
In the 17th century, Bernadina Gonzaga (1594-1667), an Italian noblewoman and member of the House of Gonzaga, was known for her patronage of the arts and her role in the cultural life of Mantua. Another notable figure was Bernadina de la Encarnación (1584-1635), a Spanish nun and mystic who was beatified by the Catholic Church in 1975.
In more recent times, the name Bernadina has been less common, but there have been a few notable individuals who have borne it. Bernadina Kyambadde (born 1958) is a Ugandan politician who has served as a member of parliament and held various cabinet positions in the Ugandan government.
People
Bernadina + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bernadina 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
Bernadina: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bernadina?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 41 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bernadina 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 8,359,862 US residents.
Is Bernadina a common name?
We classify Bernadina as "Very Rare". It ranks above 51.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 54 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bernadina most popular?
The single biggest year for Bernadina was 1969, when 9 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bernadina is about 60 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bernadina in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 249 people with the name Bernadina, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #33,298 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Bernadina in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Bernadina?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bernadina leans strongly female. 249 people counted with this name were female (98.4%), compared with 4 male bearers (1.6%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Bernadina?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bernadina is Hispanic at 67.1%. The next largest groups are White (22.1%) and Black (6.8%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Bernadina most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Bernadina in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.1% (167 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
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 Bernadina in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bernadina a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bernadina in the SSA data are female. 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 Bernadina still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bernadina 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 Bernadina 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.
How many people have the name Bernadina?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.