Bernhard
Masculine name of Germanic origin meaning "brave bear".
Name Census estimates that about 614 living Americans carry the first name Bernhard. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bernhard today is around 63 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bernhard births was 1916 (55 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bernhard. 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
614
~ 1 in 558,232 Americans
Peak year
1916
55 babies that year
Average age
63
years old
2021 SSA rank
#10,957
Tracked since 1880
Popularity
Bernhard: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bernhard 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 314 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
Bernhard 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 Bernhard during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bernhards live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin recorded the most babies named Bernhard, while North Dakota, Illinois, Texas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 38 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Bernhard
The name Bernhard is of Germanic origin, derived from the elements "bern" meaning "bear" and "hard" meaning "brave" or "hardy". It dates back to the 8th century AD and was initially used by the Frankish and Saxon tribes inhabiting central and northern Europe.
In the early Middle Ages, the name gained popularity across the Holy Roman Empire, with notable bearers including Bernhard of Menthon, a 10th-century Benedictine monk and patron saint of mountaineers. The name also appears in early medieval German literature, such as the Nibelungenlied, an epic poem from the 13th century.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name is Bernhard, King of Italy from 810 to 818 AD, who ruled as the Carolingian King of the Lombards. Another prominent figure was Bernhard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century French abbot and primary reformer of the Cistercian order, who was canonized as a saint in 1174.
During the Renaissance and Reformation, the name remained popular in German-speaking regions. Bernhard Walther, a 16th-century German composer and music theorist, is notable for his contributions to the development of Protestant church music. Bernhard Varen, a 17th-century Dutch Golden Age painter, was renowned for his still-life paintings.
In the 19th century, Bernhard Riemann, a German mathematician born in 1826, made significant contributions to the field of geometry and the study of functions. Bernhard von Bülow, born in 1849, was a German diplomat and politician who served as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.
The 20th century saw several notable figures bearing the name, including Bernhard Lichtenberg, a German Catholic priest and martyr who was executed by the Nazis in 1943 for his anti-Nazi activism. Bernhard Grzimek, a German zoologist and author born in 1909, was known for his efforts in wildlife conservation and popular television series on animals.
People
Bernhard + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bernhard 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
Bernhard: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bernhard?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 614 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bernhard 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 558,232 US residents.
Is Bernhard a common name?
We classify Bernhard as "Very Rare". It ranks above 86.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,666 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bernhard most popular?
The single biggest year for Bernhard was 1916, when 55 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bernhard is about 63 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Bernhard a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bernhard 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.
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.