Bernadine
A feminine name of French origin derived from "Bernard", meaning "brave bear".
Name Census estimates that about 6,439 living Americans carry the first name Bernadine. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bernadine today is around 70 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bernadine births was 1924 (563 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bernadine. 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 Bernadine with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Bernadine is about 70 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bernadines were born before 1966.
People living today
6.4K
~ 1 in 53,231 Americans
Peak year
1924
563 babies that year
Average age
70
years old
2024 SSA rank
#15,620
Tracked since 1882
Census
Bernadine in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 9,304 people with the first name Bernadine, which placed it at #2,585 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
#2,585
National first-name rank
People counted
9.3K
9,304 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
3.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
62.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bernadine
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bernadine is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Black (23.6%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Bernadine 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 Bernadine at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White62.7% · 5,833
- Black or African American23.6% · 2,198
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 540
- American Indian and Alaska Native3.1% · 291
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.6% · 245
- Two or more races2.1% · 197
Popularity
Bernadine: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bernadine from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 5,227 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bernadine 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 Bernadine during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bernadines live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan recorded the most babies named Bernadine, while Idaho, District of Columbia, Connecticut recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 411 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bernadine
The name Bernadine has its origins in the French language and culture. It is a feminine form of the masculine name Bernard, which is derived from the Germanic elements "bern" meaning "bear" and "hard" meaning "brave" or "hardy". The name gained popularity during the Middle Ages, particularly in regions with significant French influence.
The earliest recorded use of the name Bernadine can be traced back to the 12th century. One of the earliest notable figures with this name was Saint Bernadine of Siena, an Italian priest and Franciscan missionary who lived from 1380 to 1444. He played a significant role in the Catholic Church's efforts to reform the clergy and promote devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus.
Another historical figure named Bernadine was Bernadine of Feltre, an Italian Franciscan friar who lived from 1439 to 1494. He was known for his preaching and charitable works, particularly in the establishment of montes pietatis, which were charitable pawnbroking organizations aimed at helping the poor without charging excessive interest rates.
In the 16th century, Bernadine de Mendoza (1508-1557) was a Spanish noblewoman and diplomat who served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Mary I of England. She played a significant role in diplomatic affairs and was known for her intelligence and political acumen.
During the 17th century, Bernadine Baldi (1553-1617) was an Italian mathematician and humanist scholar. She made significant contributions to the study of mathematics and was one of the first women to be recognized for her scholarly achievements in this field.
In more recent history, Bernadine Dohrn (born 1942) was an American activist and leader of the Weather Underground, a radical left-wing organization active in the late 1960s and 1970s. She was involved in various protests and political activities during the civil rights and anti-war movements.
People
Bernadine + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bernadine 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
Bernadine: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bernadine?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 6,439 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bernadine 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 53,231 US residents.
Is Bernadine a common name?
We classify Bernadine as "Rare". It ranks above 97% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 21,927 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bernadine most popular?
The single biggest year for Bernadine was 1924, when 563 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bernadine is about 70 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bernadine in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 9,304 people with the name Bernadine, or 3.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #2,585 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 Bernadine 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 Bernadine?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bernadine appears almost entirely female. Of the 9,298 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. 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 Bernadine?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bernadine is White at 62.7%. The next largest groups are Black (23.6%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Bernadine most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bernadine in the 2020 Census, accounting for 62.7% (5,833 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 Bernadine in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bernadine a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bernadine 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 Bernadine still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bernadine 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 Bernadine 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 common is the name Bernadine?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.