Bernard
A masculine name of Germanic origin, meaning "brave as a bear".
Name Census estimates that about 79,598 living Americans carry the first name Bernard. It is a predominantly male name (99.5% of registrations). The average person named Bernard today is around 64 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bernard births was 1924 (4,524 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bernard. 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 Bernard with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Bernard is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 983 girls registered with the name since 1880.
- • Compared to the 1920s, recent registration numbers for Bernard have dropped to less than 5% of what they once were.
People living today
80K
~ 1 in 4,306 Americans
Peak year
1924
4,524 babies that year
Average age
64
years old
2024 SSA rank
#1,318
Tracked since 1880
Census
Bernard in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 82,517 people with the first name Bernard, which placed it at #641 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
#641
National first-name rank
People counted
83K
82,517 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
27.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
64.8% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bernard
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bernard is White at 64.8%. The next largest groups are Black (25.9%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Bernard 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 Bernard at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White64.8% · 53,504
- Black or African American25.9% · 21,355
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 2,741
- Asian and Pacific Islander3.3% · 2,740
- Two or more races1.9% · 1,608
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 569
Gender
Gender distribution for Bernard
Out of the 200,931 babies given the name Bernard since 1880, 99.5% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Bernard as a male name
- Ranked #1,318 in 2024
- 147 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1924 (4,505 births)
Bernard as a female name
- Ranked #9,659 in 1993
- 8 female births in 1993
- Peak: 1927 (34 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bernard appears almost entirely male. Of the 82,518 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Bernard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bernard 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 42,663 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
Bernard 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 Bernard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bernards live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois recorded the most babies named Bernard, while Nevada, Alaska, Wyoming recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 3,716 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bernard
The name Bernard originates from the Germanic language and is derived from the elements "bern" meaning "bear" and "hard" meaning "brave" or "hardy". It was a popular name among the Franks and other Germanic tribes during the Middle Ages.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Bernard dates back to the 6th century, when it was borne by Bernard of Menthon, a Catholic saint and the founder of the hospices in the Alps that bear his name. He lived from around 923 to 1008 AD.
Another notable historical figure with the name was Bernard of Clairvaux, a French abbot and a major leader in the revitalization of Benedictine monasticism in the 12th century. He was born in 1090 and died in 1153.
In the 13th century, Bernard de Ventadour, a renowned troubadour and poet from the region of Limousin in France, gained fame for his lyrical love songs and satires. He lived from around 1145 to 1195.
During the Renaissance period, Bernard Palissy, a French potter and decorator, became renowned for his innovative glazed ceramics and his contributions to the development of the scientific method. He was born in 1510 and died in 1590.
In the 17th century, Bernard de Fontenelle, a French author and philosopher, made significant contributions to the popularization of science and the development of literary criticism. He lived from 1657 to 1757.
Other notable historical figures with the name Bernard include Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, a German military leader during the Thirty Years' War (1604-1639), and Bernard Martial, a French painter and engraver from the 17th century (1641-1705).
Notable bearers
Famous people named Bernard
People
Bernard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bernard 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
Bernard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bernard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 79,598 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bernard 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 4,306 US residents.
Is Bernard a common name?
We classify Bernard as "Uncommon". It ranks above 99.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 200,931 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bernard most popular?
The single biggest year for Bernard was 1924, when 4,524 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bernard is about 64 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bernard in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 82,517 people with the name Bernard, or 27.32 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #641 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 Bernard 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 Bernard?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bernard appears almost entirely male. Of the 82,518 people counted with this name, 99.8% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Bernard?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bernard is White at 64.8%. The next largest groups are Black (25.9%) and Hispanic (3.3%). 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 Bernard most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bernard in the 2020 Census, accounting for 64.8% (53,504 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 Bernard in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bernard a male name?
Yes, 99.5% of people registered as Bernard 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 Bernard still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bernard 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 Bernard 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 Americans are named Bernard?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.