Bear
Masculine · “the animal”
Bear is the plain English word, and the word itself goes back to Old English bera — one syllable, one sound, nothing anyone has to hear twice. Long before it reached birth certificates it was doing service as an affectionate nickname and as a surname. It also sits in a large family of names built on the same animal: Björn in the Nordic countries, Orson in French, Ursula in Latin.
How old is the name Bear?
Bear first appears in US birth records in 1975 — 50 years ago. The typical Bear is a kid of about 5 — this name's wave is very recent. About 3,300 people named Bear are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bear most popular?
Bear peaked in 2022, reaching #760 nationally. Today it ranks #853, 93 places below that high. See the whole 2022 chart.
Where it comes from
From Proto-Germanic *berō to Bear
The story of Bear
This is a vocabulary name: the English noun, used directly. The word arrived through Old English bera and has kept the same short shape ever since, while other branches of Germanic gave rise to actual personal names from the same root — Björn and Bjørn in Scandinavia, Bernhard on the continent, and the Latin Ursula elsewhere in Europe. In English, Bear worked first as a surname (sometimes an anglicization of German Bär or Baer) and as a familiar nickname, often for men and boys whose legal names began with B. Its life as a given name on official records is a recent development, and one that belongs to small children far more than to adults.
Meaning
the animal — bear
Historical linguists trace the English word to Proto-Germanic *berō, understood as 'the brown one' — a substitute term used in place of an older word for the animal.
How the name formed
- Proto-Germanic *berō
- Old English bera
- English bear
- Bear
Related forms: Björn · Bjørn · Orson · Bernhard · Ursula
Pronouncing Bear
BAIR
One syllable, rhyming with air. Identical in sound to the word 'bare' and to the surname Baer.
Nicknames for Bear
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1975
- Most boys named
- 2022332 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #760reached in 2022
- Change vs 2024
- −5.3%286 in 2025, from 302
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Bear in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Björn in Swedish — related form
- Bjørn in Norwegian / Danish — related form
- Orson in French — related form
- Bernhard in German — related form
- Ursula in Latin — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Bears among us
people named Bear are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 5,972 born in 2025 was named Bear
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Laron test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Bear's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Laron climbed just as high around 1976, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Laron's path sketches the road Bear is walking now.
Bear sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Bear is headed
Bear should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Bear beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Bear in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- One syllable, one spelling every English speaker already knows, and no pronunciation to correct.
- Belongs to a wide international family of bear-names — Björn, Bjørn, Bernhard, Orson — so the idea travels even where the English word does not.
- Long history as an affectionate nickname before it was a given name, which means it already sounds natural spoken out loud.
- A child named Bear will most likely be the only one in the classroom, without the name being unfamiliar to anyone.
- It is a word before it is a name, so expect it to be taken for a nickname: forms, teachers and new acquaintances sometimes ask what the 'full' name is. Some parents pair it with a longer legal first or middle name for that reason.
- It sounds exactly like 'bare', which occasionally makes for a moment of confusion or a joke — mild, but lifelong.
- Almost every Bear in the country is still a child, so there is no picture yet of how the name wears on an adult. That cuts both ways: no dated feel either.
- US records list it overwhelmingly for boys. Girls do carry it, but a family choosing it for a daughter should know they are on the smaller side of the split.
Nobody names a baby alone.
Put Bear to the vote.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Bear
Masculine · #853 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Bears are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,300 people named Bear are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bear in 2025?
- Bear ranks #853 among US boy names in 2025, with 286 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Bear?
- About 1 in every 5,972 US boys born in 2025 was named Bear — 286 in all.
- Will my child share the name Bear with classmates?
- Bear will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Bear
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Jeremias#853 · Zechariah#855 · Santana#855 · Derrick#850 · Neil#850 · Ramon#850 · Evren#857 · Braylon#848
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bear? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Bear and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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