Bernhard
Bernhard was last recorded in 2021, when 6 babies were given it; 1,671 Americans have been recorded with it between 1880 and 2021 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Bernhard by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Bernhard mean?
Wiktionary, German section
Bernhard is “a male given name from Old High German, equivalent to English Bernard.”
From Old High German Bernhart, from Old High German bero (“bear”, cf. Bär), + Old High German hart (“hard, strong”, cf. hart). Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *Bernuharduz.
Meaning: Wiktionary, German section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Bernhard?
Unranked in 2025
Its last boys’ rank on record is #10,960, in 2021; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
55 babies in 1916, the peak
Bernhard peaked in 1916, when 55 boys were given it, #844 among boys’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 6 | #10,960 | 3.4 |
| 2017 | 5 | #12,504 | 2.7 |
| 2015 | 5 | #12,304 | 2.6 |
| 2010 | 5 | #12,454 | 2.6 |
| 2004 | 5 | #11,554 | 2.5 |
| 2001 | 5 | #10,741 | 2.6 |
| 2000 | 5 | #10,535 | 2.5 |
| 1998 | 5 | #9,777 | 2.6 |
| 1997 | 12 | #4,984 | 6.4 |
| 1995 | 5 | #9,000 | 2.6 |
Every recorded year (105)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per million boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | 11 | #4,784 | 5.4 |
| 1990 | 6 | #7,263 | 2.9 |
| 1987 | 6 | #6,165 | 3.2 |
| 1986 | 6 | #6,002 | 3.3 |
| 1985 | 7 | #5,195 | 3.8 |
| 1984 | 5 | #6,420 | 2.8 |
| 1983 | 6 | #5,548 | 3.3 |
| 1982 | 8 | #4,639 | 4.4 |
| 1979 | 9 | #4,102 | 5.2 |
| 1978 | 6 | #5,127 | 3.7 |
| 1977 | 7 | #4,634 | 4.3 |
| 1976 | 7 | #4,477 | 4.5 |
| 1974 | 5 | #5,289 | 3.2 |
| 1973 | 7 | #4,096 | 4.5 |
| 1972 | 9 | #3,373 | 5.6 |
| 1971 | 6 | #4,434 | 3.4 |
| 1970 | 16 | #2,305 | 8.6 |
| 1969 | 15 | #2,223 | 8.4 |
| 1968 | 12 | #2,454 | 6.9 |
| 1967 | 15 | #2,039 | 8.6 |
| 1966 | 22 | #1,653 | 12.3 |
| 1965 | 22 | #1,671 | 11.8 |
| 1964 | 12 | #2,426 | 6.0 |
| 1963 | 25 | #1,590 | 12.3 |
| 1962 | 24 | #1,626 | 11.6 |
| 1961 | 20 | #1,826 | 9.4 |
| 1960 | 21 | #1,777 | 9.8 |
| 1959 | 24 | #1,623 | 11.2 |
| 1958 | 17 | #1,959 | 8.0 |
| 1957 | 19 | #1,838 | 8.8 |
| 1956 | 22 | #1,680 | 10.4 |
| 1955 | 14 | #2,151 | 6.8 |
| 1954 | 20 | #1,711 | 9.8 |
| 1953 | 22 | #1,635 | 11.2 |
| 1952 | 12 | #2,261 | 6.2 |
| 1951 | 11 | #2,381 | 5.8 |
| 1950 | 18 | #1,748 | 10.1 |
| 1949 | 14 | #2,031 | 7.9 |
| 1948 | 17 | #1,824 | 9.7 |
| 1947 | 21 | #1,654 | 11.5 |
| 1946 | 12 | #2,155 | 7.4 |
| 1945 | 12 | #2,015 | 8.9 |
| 1944 | 16 | #1,744 | 11.7 |
| 1943 | 19 | #1,642 | 13.3 |
| 1942 | 17 | #1,737 | 12.3 |
| 1941 | 13 | #2,003 | 10.6 |
| 1940 | 20 | #1,523 | 17.3 |
| 1939 | 19 | #1,535 | 17.2 |
| 1938 | 18 | #1,618 | 16.2 |
| 1937 | 21 | #1,485 | 19.7 |
| 1936 | 28 | #1,246 | 27.0 |
| 1935 | 19 | #1,591 | 18.2 |
| 1934 | 25 | #1,361 | 24.2 |
| 1933 | 22 | #1,459 | 22.2 |
| 1932 | 21 | #1,552 | 20.1 |
| 1931 | 27 | #1,337 | 26.0 |
| 1930 | 27 | #1,400 | 24.6 |
| 1929 | 31 | #1,273 | 28.8 |
| 1928 | 33 | #1,256 | 29.8 |
| 1927 | 29 | #1,375 | 25.7 |
| 1926 | 24 | #1,518 | 21.6 |
| 1925 | 28 | #1,393 | 25.1 |
| 1924 | 36 | #1,206 | 31.8 |
| 1923 | 31 | #1,302 | 28.3 |
| 1922 | 30 | #1,340 | 27.6 |
| 1921 | 27 | #1,454 | 24.5 |
| 1920 | 45 | #1,037 | 42.3 |
| 1919 | 41 | #1,064 | 41.8 |
| 1918 | 27 | #1,377 | 26.6 |
| 1917 | 50 | #901 | 54.0 |
| 1916 | 55 | #844 | 61.8 |
| 1915 | 41 | #980 | 48.3 |
| 1914 | 22 | #1,266 | 33.6 |
| 1913 | 26 | #972 | 50.7 |
| 1912 | 16 | #1,181 | 37.2 |
| 1910 | 8 | #1,206 | 41.2 |
| 1909 | 7 | #1,166 | 42.7 |
| 1906 | 8 | #935 | 60.1 |
| 1905 | 7 | #1,010 | 52.9 |
| 1900 | 5 | #1,331 | 33.2 |
| 1899 | 7 | #865 | 65.9 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,017 | 48.9 |
| 1896 | 6 | #990 | 50.2 |
| 1895 | 5 | #1,093 | 42.6 |
| 1894 | 8 | #793 | 69.1 |
| 1893 | 9 | #709 | 80.1 |
| 1892 | 7 | #870 | 57.4 |
| 1891 | 5 | #988 | 49.4 |
| 1889 | 10 | #634 | 90.4 |
| 1887 | 10 | #591 | 98.6 |
| 1886 | 5 | #979 | 45.1 |
| 1884 | 7 | #776 | 61.2 |
| 1883 | 5 | #905 | 47.8 |
| 1881 | 6 | #792 | 59.6 |
| 1880 | 8 | #685 | 72.4 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Bernhard a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Bernhard has been recorded only for boys: SSA lists no girls with the name in 105 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Bernhard: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Bernhard, and how old are they?
An estimated 541 Americans named Bernhard and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (32% of everyone recorded); the median is 63 years old and half are between 50 and 73. An estimate from SSA’s births and life tables, not a count.
The 2020 Census counted 1,534 people named Bernhard (0 women and girls, 1,534 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 636 born in the U.S. The Census count is 2.4 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out, and it records the name people give, which SSA may have recorded under another spelling or as part of a compound name.
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 Bernhard born?
The states with the most babies named Bernhard are New York, Minnesota and Wisconsin, with 87% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota and Wisconsin are not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| New York | 178 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| Minnesota | 34 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Wisconsin | 21 | not ranked | 0.6× |
| California | 15 | not ranked | 0.2× |
| Texas | 11 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| Illinois | 5 | not ranked | 0.1× |
| North Dakota | 5 | not ranked | 0.5× |
Where Bernhard is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Bernhard is most over-represented in New York: since 1910 it was given 1.3 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 boys’ 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 Bernhard 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 5 names spelled alike, given to 203,710 babies since 1880, Bernhard is the second most given (<1% of them). In 2025 none of their 137 babies recorded by SSA was a Bernhard (SSA lists a name only with 5 or more babies of one sex).
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 Bernhard
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 Bernhard and names like it
- Compare Bernhard and BernardBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1910sBernhard peaked in 1916.
- New York’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Bernhard since 1910.
- The top names of 1916The year the most babies were named Bernhard.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Bernhard alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.