Bernardine
Feminine · “brave as a bear”
Bernardine is a French feminine of a German name with an Italian saint standing behind it. Three countries have handled the same word, and the version that reached America carries a piece of each of them.
How old is the name Bernardine?
Bernardine first appears in US birth records in 1888 — 137 years ago. The typical Bernardine alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 1,000 people named Bernardine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Bernardine most popular?
Bernardine peaked in 1931, reaching #777 nationally. See the whole 1931 chart.
Where it comes from
From Bernhard to Bernardine
The story of Bernardine
Bernardino of Siena was the most famous preacher in fifteenth-century Italy, and he sold a logo. He carried a wooden tablet painted with the letters IHS, a monogram for the name of Jesus, inside a blazing sun, and he held it up at the climax of his sermons; cities that heard him took the emblem down from him and painted it on their public buildings, where it still is, in Siena and half a dozen other towns. He was accused of heresy over it three times and acquitted three times. The name spread through Italy and France on the strength of him, and the feminine forms with it.
Meaning
brave as a bear
The Germanic compound joins the animal to a word for bold or hardy. The French ending marks the feminine and adds nothing to the sense.
How the name formed
- Bernhard
- Bernard
- Bernardine
Related forms: Bernardine · Bernardina · Bernardina · Bernhardine
Pronouncing Bernardine
BUR-nur-deen
Three syllables with the weight at the front and a secondary beat at the back. French puts the whole weight on the last syllable.
Nicknames for Bernardine
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
- 1888
- Most girls named
- 192781 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #777reached in 1931
- Change vs 1975
- −28.6%5 in 1978, from 7
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.
Bernardine in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bernardine in French — same name
- Bernardina in Italian — same name
- Bernardina in Spanish — same name
- Bernhardine in German — same name
Bernardines among us
people named Bernardine are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Bernardine sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- It is a standing name in French, Italian, Spanish and German.
- The meaning is concrete and easy to explain: an animal and a quality.
- It carries several short forms with quite different characters.
- Three syllables and ten letters is long for American paperwork.
- Bernadine and Bernardine are both in the record and will be confused.
- It reads clearly as a name of the first half of the twentieth century.
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Bernardine
Feminine
Frequently asked
- How many Bernardines are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,000 people named Bernardine are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Bernardine in 2025?
- Bernardine is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 girl names.
- Will my child share the name Bernardine with classmates?
- Bernardine will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Barbara#968 · Betty#1113 · Brenda#1525 · Beverly#1016 · Brittany#928 · Bonnie#396 · Brianna#222 · Bertha#4546
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Bernardine? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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