Bernal
Of Spanish origin meaning "brave as a bear".
Name Census estimates that about 44 living Americans carry the first name Bernal. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bernal today is around 79 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bernal births was 1918 (18 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bernal. 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
- • The typical person named Bernal is about 79 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bernals were born before 1957.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Bernal. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
44
~ 1 in 7,789,871 Americans
Peak year
1918
18 babies that year
Average age
79
years old
1969 SSA rank
#4,464
Tracked since 1914
Census
Bernal in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 309 people with the first name Bernal, which placed it at #28,877 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
#28,877
National first-name rank
People counted
309
309 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
58.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bernal
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bernal is Hispanic at 58.6%. The next largest groups are White (23.9%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Bernal 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 Bernal at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino58.6% · 181
- White23.9% · 74
- Black or African American11.0% · 34
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.9% · 9
- American Indian and Alaska Native2.6% · 8
- Two or more races1.0% · 3
Popularity
Bernal: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bernal from the 1910s through to the 1960s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1930s, with 52 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1930s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bernal 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 Bernal 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 Bernal
The name Bernal originates from the Spanish language and has its roots in the medieval period. It is derived from the Germanic name Bernhard, which means "brave bear." The name was brought to Spain by the Visigoths, a Germanic tribe that ruled the Iberian Peninsula from the 5th to the 8th century.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Bernal can be found in the epic poem "El Cantar de Mio Cid," written in the 12th century. The poem tells the story of the Castilian hero El Cid, and one of the characters is named Bernal Díaz.
In the 16th century, a Spanish conquistador named Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492-1584) gained fame for his eyewitness account of the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés. His book, "The True History of the Conquest of New Spain," is considered a valuable historical source.
Another notable figure with the name Bernal was Saint Bernal of Quintavalle (c. 1180-1242), one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi and a member of the Franciscan order. He is venerated in the Catholic Church and his feast day is celebrated on May 17th.
In the 20th century, the name Bernal was borne by Bernal Díaz Nanjulián (1903-1936), a Spanish poet and playwright who was executed during the Spanish Civil War for his political beliefs.
Additionally, Bernal Jiménez de Cisneros (1923-1990) was a renowned Cuban painter and printmaker known for his depictions of Cuban culture and life.
The name Bernal has a rich history and has been carried by individuals from various walks of life, including writers, saints, artists, and soldiers. Despite its Spanish origins, it has transcended cultural boundaries and has been adopted by people around the world.
People
Bernal + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bernal 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
Bernal: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bernal?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 44 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bernal 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 7,789,871 US residents.
Is Bernal a common name?
We classify Bernal as "Very Rare". It ranks above 52.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 190 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bernal most popular?
The single biggest year for Bernal was 1918, when 18 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bernal is about 79 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bernal in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 309 people with the name Bernal, or 0.10 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #28,877 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 Bernal 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 Bernal?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bernal leans strongly male. 275 people counted with this name were male (88.1%), compared with 37 female bearers (11.9%). 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 Bernal?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bernal is Hispanic at 58.6%. The next largest groups are White (23.9%) and Black (11.0%). 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 Bernal most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Bernal in the 2020 Census, accounting for 58.6% (181 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 Bernal in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bernal a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bernal 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 Bernal still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bernal 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 Bernal 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 Bernal as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.