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Bernardo

#1,347 in 2025Boys' name

Bear + hard, brave, through Bernardus

Bernardo has been given to 11,175 babies in the U.S. since 1888. In 2025 it ranked #1,347 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 1995, with 240 recorded.

Babies named Bernardo, 2025

1 in 23,700

Bernardo over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010020030018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Bernardo: meaning, origin, and history

Bear + hard, brave, through Bernardus

Proto-Germanic and Spanish

What Bernardo means

Bernardo belongs to the name family reached through Bernardo → Bernardus → *Bernuharduz. Its meaning is “bear + hard, brave”.

Origin, language, and formation

Bernardo is used in Cebuano, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Tagalog. Its origins include Proto-Germanic and Spanish.

Bernardo comes through Spanish Bernardo.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Bernard, Bernardus and *Bernuharduz.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Italian, Bernardo is pronounced /berˈnar.do/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 11,175 boys were recorded with the name Bernardo between 1888 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 240 in 1995; its best national rank was #671 in 1994.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #1,490 in 2020 to #1,347 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank fell, from #1,340 in 2015 to #1,347 in 2025.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Bernardo?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 23,700
140 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 12,200
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#1,347
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
16,415 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Bernardo sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 5002%

Put another way: gather 16,415 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Bernardo. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Bernardos were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Bernardo was born before 1991 — so the typical Bernardo is around 34 today.

Median birth year
1991
About 34 years old
Biggest decade
1990s
17.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
34.0%
Spread across generations
Recorded since 1950
9,761
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1990s — 17.7% of all recorded uses (1,977).

Is Bernardo rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
−6
Places dropped
Rank vs 5 years ago
+143
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
−7
Places dropped
Births vs 10 years ago
1.07×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
58.3%
Peak was 1995 (240)
Years since peak
30
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Steady
10.8% average annual change
Best rank ever
#671
1994

Spellings of Bernardo

Bernardo is not the most common spelling — Bernard is, with 42.0% against Bernardo's 2.3%.

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Where Bernardo is used

Across 2016–2025, Bernardo was most concentrated in Massachusetts — about 1 in 1,923 boys, against 1 in 8,647 across all states with data. It was least common in New York (1 in 100,000).

152 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Massachusetts1 in 1,923
  2. 2Florida1 in 5,882
  3. 3California1 in 7,143
  4. 4Texas1 in 7,692
  5. 5New Jersey1 in 8,333
  6. 6Arizona1 in 11,111
  7. 7Illinois1 in 14,286
  8. 8Connecticut1 in 25,000

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings.

Bernardo around the world

Where Bernardo ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

  • England & Wales
    2004–2025
    #1,466
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2018–2025
    #329
    in 2025
  • France
    1921–2025
    #1,748
    in 2025
  • Canada
    1992–2024
    #1,817
    in 2024
  • South Australia
    1958–1974
    #455
    in 1974

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Notable people named Bernardo

People whose public names include Bernardo, backed by Wikidata given-name records and ordered by linked Wikimedia pages. The name may be a middle name.

People data from Wikidata (CC0). Fame is measured, not judged — the order reflects how widely each person is documented, not the U.S. birth records popularity this page is otherwise about.

Bernardo in other languages

Cross-language forms and variants of Bernardo. Linked forms have their own page here.

BerendBernalBernardBernaldoBernhardBernatBernezBernátBernaldBjarnatErnardoBernharðBernarditoBernharður

Variant forms from Wikidata (CC0). Most are used mainly outside the United States; U.S. birth records statistics cover US usage only.

Bernardo by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#1,347
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 143
Best rank ever
#671
1994
Peak year
1995
240 that year
First recorded
1888
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
11,175
Count in 2025
140

Names similar to Bernardo

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

BertramBernieEverardoAbelardoBertrandBerkleyEdwardoBerkeleyBernabeEdgardoLeobardoBerryBernhardBerniceRiccardoLeonardoBerlinGildardoGerardoBernardBernellBertRichardoEduardo

Names with a curve like Bernardo

Not spelling — timing. These names rose, peaked and faded in the same years as Bernardo, so they read as being from the same moment even when they look nothing alike.

GonzaloIsidroRaymundoAgustinFidelLazaroEfrenGenaroCordellNestorAntonyFrancesco

Sibling names for Bernardo

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Bernardo

Top names of 1995, Bernardo's peak yearThe 1990s in fullOther names that peaked in 1994Boys' names starting with BLong Boy NamesUncommon Portuguese Boy NamesUncommon Spanish Boy Names