Bjarne

Boys' name

Bear, through Bjarni

Bjarne has been given to 55 babies in the U.S. since 1914. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1916, with 11 recorded.

Babies named Bjarne, 1927

1 in 464,000

Bjarne over time, 1880–2025

Boys

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Bjarne: meaning, origin, and history

Bear, through Bjarni

Old Norse

What Bjarne means

Bjarne belongs to the name family reached through Bjarne → Bjarni. Its meaning is “bear”.

Origin, language, and formation

Bjarne is used in Danish, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish. Its origins include Old Norse.

Bjarne comes through Old Norse Bjarni.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Bjarni.

Pronunciation and spelling

In Norwegian Nynorsk, Bjarne is pronounced /²bjarnə/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 55 boys were recorded with the name Bjarne between 1914 and 1927. Its highest annual count was 11 in 1916; its best national rank was #2,399 in 1916.

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 Bjarne?

Bjarne had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1927, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1927: 1 in 464,000; 5 of 2,319,281 births
Among boys only: 1 in 225,000; <0.01% of boys
Rank, 1927: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 321,522 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Bjarne 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 1927 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 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 321,522 children born in 1927 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Bjarne. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Bjarnes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Bjarne was born before 1916 — so the typical Bjarne is around 109 today.

Median birth year: 1916; About 109 years old
Biggest decade: 1910s; 72.7% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 0; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1910s — 72.7% of all recorded uses (40).

Is Bjarne 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: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1916 (11)
Years since peak: 109; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Shifting; 24.3% average annual change
Best rank ever: #2,399; 1916

Spellings of Bjarne

Bjarne is not the most common spelling — Blaine is, with 47.7% against Bjarne's 0.08%.

Blaine47.7%33,071
Barney23.2%16,090
Bjorn7.6%5,255
Blane6.4%4,448
Blayne5.8%4,050
Arne4.1%2,854
Jane1.6%1,133
Bane1.5%1,051

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.

Bjarne around the world

Where Bjarne 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.

Norway
1880–2024
#333
in 2024

Popularity data from Statistics Norway. SSB data under CC BY 4.0.

Bjarne by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #2,399; 1916
Peak year: 1916; 11 that year
First recorded: 1914
Last recorded: 1927
All-time count: 55
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Bjarne

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

Osbourne Thorne Berne Bourne Marne Warne Byrne Deverne Dorne Cleburne Aarne Loverne Bjay Osborne Hawthorne Levorne Anferne Leverne Luverne Wilburne Clayborne Lorne Milburne Claborne

Sibling names for Bjarne

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

For a sister

Era Leatha Leone Artie Alpha Hettie Cecil Ona

For a brother

Winfield Dorsey Isadore Aloysius Hyman Regis Sydney Meyer

Explore around Bjarne

Top names of 1916, Bjarne's peak year The 1910s in full Other names that peaked in 1916 Boys' names starting with B Danish Boy Names