Bernardette
A feminine diminutive of Bernard, derived from the Germanic words for "bear" and "brave".
Name Census estimates that about 178 living Americans carry the first name Bernardette. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Bernardette today is around 59 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bernardette births was 1964 (12 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bernardette. 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.
People living today
178
~ 1 in 1,925,586 Americans
Peak year
1964
12 babies that year
Average age
59
years old
1995 SSA rank
#13,682
Tracked since 1935
Popularity
Bernardette: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bernardette from the 1930s through to the 1990s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 55 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
Bernardette 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 Bernardette during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bernardettes live
Origin
Meaning and history of Bernardette
The name Bernardette has its origins in the Romance languages, specifically French and Italian. It is a feminine form of the masculine name Bernard, which derives from the Germanic words "bern" meaning "bear" and "hard" meaning "brave" or "hardy." The name can be traced back to the 8th century AD.
One of the earliest known uses of the name Bernardette dates back to the 12th century, when it was recorded in historical documents from the region of Aquitaine in southwestern France. The name gained prominence in the 19th century with the story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, a young French peasant girl who reported visions of the Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France, in 1858.
Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879) was a sickly and impoverished child who claimed to have seen the Virgin Mary in a series of apparitions in a grotto near Lourdes. Her visions led to the establishment of the Marian shrine at Lourdes, which has since become one of the most significant pilgrimage sites for Catholics worldwide.
Another notable figure named Bernardette was Bernardette Renée Soubirous (1946-1964), a French Roman Catholic mystic and stigmatist. She was known for her devotion to the Virgin Mary and was believed to have experienced visions and stigmata (the appearance of bodily wounds resembling those of Christ's crucifixion).
In literature, Bernardette is the name of the protagonist in the novel "The Song of Bernadette" by Franz Werfel, published in 1941. The book tells the story of Bernadette Soubirous and her visions at Lourdes, and it was later adapted into a popular film in 1943.
Other historical figures with the name Bernardette include Bernardette Chodron (1944-2014), an American Buddhist nun and author, and Bernardette Devlin (born 1947), an Irish political activist and former Member of Parliament.
While the name Bernardette has its roots in the French and Italian cultures, it has since gained popularity in various parts of the world, particularly among Catholic communities, due to its association with Saint Bernadette Soubirous and the apparitions at Lourdes.
People
Bernardette + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bernardette 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
Bernardette: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bernardette?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 178 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bernardette 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 1,925,586 US residents.
Is Bernardette a common name?
We classify Bernardette as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 232 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bernardette most popular?
The single biggest year for Bernardette was 1964, when 12 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bernardette is about 59 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Bernardette a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bernardette 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.
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.