Bernardine
Bernardine was last recorded in 1978, when 5 babies were given it; 3,128 Americans have been recorded with it between 1888 and 1978 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Bernardine by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Bernardine mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Bernardine is “a female given name from French.”
From French Bernardine. By surface analysis, Bernard + -ine. Piecewise doublet of Bernardina.
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Bernardine?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #9,906, in 1978; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
85 babies in 1925, the peak
Bernardine peaked in 1925, when 85 girls were given it, #800 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | 5 | #9,906 | 3.3 |
| 1976 | 8 | #6,676 | 5.5 |
| 1975 | 7 | #7,239 | 4.8 |
| 1973 | 7 | #6,733 | 4.8 |
| 1972 | 6 | #7,350 | 3.9 |
| 1971 | 8 | #6,051 | 4.8 |
| 1970 | 8 | #5,863 | 4.6 |
| 1969 | 12 | #4,209 | 7.1 |
| 1968 | 7 | #5,684 | 4.3 |
| 1967 | 14 | #3,501 | 8.5 |
Every recorded year (86)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1966 | 22 | #2,591 | 13.0 |
| 1965 | 19 | #2,841 | 10.8 |
| 1964 | 17 | #3,117 | 9.0 |
| 1963 | 21 | #2,708 | 10.9 |
| 1962 | 27 | #2,313 | 13.7 |
| 1961 | 12 | #3,802 | 5.9 |
| 1960 | 36 | #1,890 | 17.8 |
| 1959 | 31 | #2,021 | 15.3 |
| 1958 | 46 | #1,578 | 22.9 |
| 1957 | 69 | #1,261 | 33.7 |
| 1956 | 15 | #3,058 | 7.5 |
| 1955 | 27 | #2,064 | 13.8 |
| 1954 | 23 | #2,244 | 11.8 |
| 1953 | 29 | #1,871 | 15.4 |
| 1952 | 32 | #1,746 | 17.3 |
| 1951 | 24 | #2,021 | 13.3 |
| 1950 | 37 | #1,527 | 21.6 |
| 1949 | 48 | #1,322 | 28.1 |
| 1948 | 58 | #1,184 | 34.2 |
| 1947 | 50 | #1,289 | 28.2 |
| 1946 | 59 | #1,109 | 37.5 |
| 1945 | 36 | #1,332 | 27.5 |
| 1944 | 68 | #937 | 51.2 |
| 1943 | 50 | #1,142 | 35.8 |
| 1942 | 61 | #998 | 45.2 |
| 1941 | 48 | #1,052 | 39.7 |
| 1940 | 65 | #887 | 56.8 |
| 1939 | 54 | #960 | 49.2 |
| 1938 | 50 | #1,009 | 45.3 |
| 1937 | 61 | #882 | 57.3 |
| 1936 | 52 | #952 | 50.0 |
| 1935 | 56 | #927 | 53.4 |
| 1934 | 59 | #889 | 56.5 |
| 1933 | 66 | #820 | 65.5 |
| 1932 | 72 | #802 | 67.5 |
| 1931 | 75 | #777 | 70.4 |
| 1930 | 77 | #808 | 68.4 |
| 1929 | 71 | #842 | 63.6 |
| 1928 | 71 | #865 | 61.6 |
| 1927 | 81 | #810 | 67.9 |
| 1926 | 78 | #830 | 65.8 |
| 1925 | 85 | #800 | 69.8 |
| 1924 | 74 | #869 | 59.3 |
| 1923 | 60 | #954 | 49.7 |
| 1922 | 61 | #950 | 50.8 |
| 1921 | 77 | #845 | 62.4 |
| 1920 | 54 | #1,006 | 45.1 |
| 1919 | 62 | #890 | 54.9 |
| 1918 | 81 | #792 | 70.0 |
| 1917 | 64 | #860 | 59.2 |
| 1916 | 72 | #803 | 68.9 |
| 1915 | 53 | #902 | 53.9 |
| 1914 | 42 | #903 | 55.1 |
| 1913 | 33 | #929 | 52.8 |
| 1912 | 23 | #1,083 | 41.2 |
| 1911 | 22 | #936 | 52.6 |
| 1910 | 23 | #897 | 58.0 |
| 1909 | 19 | #941 | 54.7 |
| 1908 | 19 | #917 | 56.8 |
| 1907 | 18 | #898 | 56.5 |
| 1906 | 12 | #1,105 | 40.6 |
| 1905 | 15 | #970 | 51.4 |
| 1904 | 8 | #1,378 | 29.1 |
| 1903 | 16 | #864 | 61.1 |
| 1902 | 8 | #1,333 | 30.3 |
| 1901 | 5 | #1,708 | 20.9 |
| 1900 | 8 | #1,448 | 26.7 |
| 1899 | 11 | #990 | 47.2 |
| 1898 | 9 | #1,179 | 34.8 |
| 1897 | 7 | #1,274 | 29.9 |
| 1896 | 9 | #1,135 | 37.8 |
| 1895 | 11 | #992 | 47.1 |
| 1894 | 10 | #1,003 | 44.9 |
| 1892 | 7 | #1,181 | 33.0 |
| 1890 | 10 | #876 | 52.5 |
| 1888 | 5 | #1,301 | 28.0 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Bernardine a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Bernardine has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 86 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Bernardine: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Bernardine, and how old are they?
An estimated 918 Americans named Bernardine and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (29% of everyone recorded); the median is 76 years old and half are between 67 and 83. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,076 people named Bernardine (1,056 women and girls, 20 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 1,213 born in the U.S. The Census count is 11% below that prediction. Possible reasons: people who give a short form or another name to the Census, and a survival estimate that can run high.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Bernardine born?
The states with the most babies named Bernardine are Pennsylvania, Illinois and New York, with 72% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 462 | not ranked | 2.0× |
| Illinois | 182 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| New York | 148 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| Wisconsin | 65 | not ranked | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 56 | not ranked | 0.5× |
| Maryland | 48 | not ranked | 1.1× |
| California | 43 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Massachusetts | 27 | not ranked | 0.3× |
| Louisiana | 26 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| New Jersey | 17 | not ranked | 0.2× |
Where Bernardine is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Bernardine is most over-represented in Pennsylvania: since 1910 it was given 2.0 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Bernardine with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 3,294 babies since 1880, Bernardine is the most given (95% of them).
| Name | Since 1880 | Births 2025 | Peak year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bernardine | 3,128 | under 5 | 1925 |
| Bernardina | 166 | under 5 | 1925 |
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Bernardine
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Bernardine and names like it
- Compare Bernardine and BernardinaBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1920sBernardine peaked in 1925.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Bernardine since 1910.
- French namesWiktionary’s origin for Bernardine: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1925The year the most babies were named Bernardine.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Bernardine alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.