Bernard

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Bernat in ES Spain, AR Argentina, MX Mexico.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 15 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Bernard is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• English given name2.6M records spelled Bernard54 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, United Kingdom, Netherlands

  Languages: English, German, Dutch

  Also written Bernardo, Bernárd, Bernàrd, 'Bernard, Berñardo

• Spanish given name201K records spelled Bernard11 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, Philippines, Argentina

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

  Also written Bérnard, Bernàrd, Bèrnard, Beŕńaŕd, Bērnärd

• Polish given name159K records spelled Bernard47 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Poland, United States, Croatia, Czechia

  Languages: Polish, Croatian, Czech

  Also written Bernardo, Бернард, Бернар, Bernhard, Bernardus

• a separate given name61K records spelled Bernard3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Canada

• Indonesian given name15K records spelled Bernard3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, United States

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Bêrnard

• Hungarian given name9.7K records spelled Bernard4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, Slovenia, Hungary, United States

  Languages: Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Bërñård

• Italian given name6.2K records spelled Bernard6 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Philippines, United States, Italy, United Kingdom

  Also written Bernardo, Bernhard, Bernardõ, Bèrnàrdò, Bërnärdö

119 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Bernard is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In French, Germanic, from ber(n) ‘bear’ + hard ‘strong, hardy’; borne by St Bernard.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

• In French, Germanic name from ber 'bear' and hard 'hard, brave'.

  as a name·Le grand guide des prénoms (Enfant - Education)

• In English, A male given name from the Germanic languages.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In French, du nom germanique Bernhard, de ber(n) « ours » et hard « dur, fort »

  as a name·Dictionnaire des noms de famille du Canada français. Anthroponymie et généalogie. 2e édition

• In French, Germanique bern « ours » + hard « fort »; fête le 20 août.

  as a name·Dictionnaire généalogique des prénoms

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Adam Mickiewiczb. 1798PLnot in their usual namePolish national poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator, and political activist (1798-1855)
• George Bernard Shawb. 1856GBIrish playwright, critic, and polemicist (1856–1950)
• Harvey Milkb. 1930USnot in their usual nameAmerican politician and gay rights activist (1930–1978)
• Jerry Orbachb. 1935USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor and singer (1935-2004)
• Bernard Madoffb. 1938USAmerican fraudster and financier (1938–2021)
• Bernie Sandersb. 1941USnot in their usual nameUnited States Senator from Vermont
• Bernie Macb. 1957USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor (1957–2008)
• D. B. Sweeneyb. 1961USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor
• Bernard Cazeneuveb. 1963FRFrench prime minister
• Theo Hernándezb. 1997FRnot in their usual nameFrench footballer (born 1997)

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 1,550 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Bernard?

We estimate roughly 591 thousand people bear Bernard (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Bernard have the most bearers?

We estimate about 469 thousand people bear Bernard in France, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled bernard.

Where is Bernard most common?

Bernard is densest in France, where the national register counts about 1 in 145 people carrying it.

How common is Bernard compared with other names?

In France, Bernard is the 24th most common given name of 711,207 given names recorded there.

Is Bernard a male or female name?

Bernard is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Bernard mean?

Recorded meaning: Germanic name meaning 'bear stern'; used in Ireland to anglicise Brian and Beircheart.