Bernard

Where Bernard comes from

Inherited from Middle English Bernard, from Old French Bernard, Bernart, from Medieval Latin Bernardus, probably from Frankish *Bernhard (cognate with Old High German Bernhart, Old English Beornheard), from Proto-Germanic *Bernuharduz, equivalent to bear + -ard. Popularized by medieval European saints.
— Wiktionary's entry for Bernard
  • Germanic
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1090
    Bernard of Clairvaux born
    Burgundian saint, abbot and theologian
  2. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #97 among boys — 140 babies in the first year on record.
  3. 1887
    Bernard Montgomery born
    British Army officer
  4. 1921
    Peak, #45
    4,485 babies named Bernard — more than any year before or since.
  5. 1961
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #156.
In the dictionary
  • A male given name from the Germanic languages.
Namesakes
  • Bernard of Clairvaux · Burgundian saint, abbot and theologian, 1090–1153
  • Bernard Montgomery · British Army officer, 1887–1976
  • Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle · French writer and philosopher of the enlightenment, 1657–1757
  • Bernard Bolzano · Bohemian mathematician and priest, 1781–1848
  • Bernard Katz · German-British biophysicist, 1911–2003

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.