How Many People Are Named Bernard?
people named Bernard are alive in the United States today (estimate)
About 1 in 4,788 people in the US has this name
Based on 201,070 babies named Bernard in Social Security records from 1880 to 2025, and the share of each birth year still alive in 2025.
Popularity Rank
💎 Rare
Peak Year
4,524 births
Trend
Stable (last 10 years)
📖 Name Origin & Meaning
Meaning:
Derived from the Germanic element bern "bear" combined with hard "brave, hardy". The Normans brought it to England, where it replaced the Old English cognate Beornheard. This was the name of several saints, including Saint Bernard of Menthon who built hospices in the Swiss Alps in the 10th century, and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century theologian and Doctor of the Church. Other famous bearers include the Irish playwright and essayist George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) and the British World War II field marshal Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976).
Source of the meaning, origin, pronunciation and related names: Behind the Name.
⚧ Gender Distribution
Of the babies given the name Bernard, 0.6% were girls and 99.4% were boys.
👥 Age Distribution
The average person named Bernard alive today is about 61 years old, and 61% are 60 or older. Half of them were between 50 and 75 in 2025.
📈 Popularity Over Time
Bernard first appears in the records in 1880 and was given most often in 1924, to 4,524 babies. In 2025, 137 babies got the name.
Babies given the name each year, 1880 to 2025
🏆 Rank History
Bernard never made the top 10 boys' names. Its best rank was #45, in 1919 and 1921, and it was in the top 100 in 65 years between 1880 and 1947. In 2025 it ranked #1,362.
| Boys | |
|---|---|
| Rank in 2025 | #1,362 |
| Best rank | #45 (1919 and 1921) |
| Years in the top 100 | 65 (1880 to 1947) |
| Rank in its biggest decade | #47 in the 1920s |
📍 State-Wise Distribution
People named Bernard alive today, by the state where they were born (estimate; state records start in 1910).
More people named Bernard were born in New York than in any other state: about 8,409 of those alive today. Compared with the national rate in the same years, Bernard was given 3.1 times as often in Vermont, 2.7 times in District of Columbia and 2.2 times in Maryland.
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