Bernard is a boy's name of French origin meaning “brave as a bear.” In 2024 it was given to 147 boys in the United States.
Bernard belongs to the French tradition. Its meaning — “brave as a bear” — is the sense carried by its French roots, and it is the meaning we verified against published sources for this page. It travels in a few spellings: Brian.
In the United States, Bernard first appears in Social Security records in 1880. It climbed to its best-ever rank of #45 in 1919, and in 2024 147 babies received the name — 199,948 in total since 1880. Those are the official counts, not estimates.
More names from the French shelf:
Bernard means “brave as a bear” in its French roots. We check every meaning against published sources before it appears here.
Bernard is a boy name. In 2024, 147 babies received the name in the US.
Bernard comes from the French tradition. It is also spelled Brian.
Bernard first appears in US records in 1880. Its best-ever ranking was #45 in 1919, and 147 babies were given the name in 2024.
Bernard is pronounced /ˈbɜːnəd/ (IPA).
Meaning and origin for this page were checked against this source. US popularity figures are from the Social Security Administration's public baby-names data. If you spot an error, write to [email protected] — accuracy is the whole point of this site, and corrections are made fast.
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