Meaning and history
Derived from the Old German elements bern “bear” and hart “hard, firm, brave, hardy,” Bernard was brought to England by the Normans, where it replaced the Old English cognate Beornheard. The name was borne by several saints, including Saint Bernard of Menthon, who built hospices in the Swiss Alps in the 10th century, and Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a 12th-century theologian and Doctor of the Church, and it has also been used by notable figures such as the Irish playwright and essayist George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), the British World War II field marshal Bernard Montgomery (1887-1976), and the French cyclist Bernard Hinault (1954-).
20062006: 194 births, rank #958
2007: 212 births, rank #934
2008: 214 births, rank #944
2009: 189 births, rank #1,027
2010: 172 births, rank #1,108
20112011: 168 births, rank #1,101
2012: 150 births, rank #1,195
2013: 168 births, rank #1,100
2014: 158 births, rank #1,179
2015: 151 births, rank #1,216
20162016: 163 births, rank #1,169
2017: 160 births, rank #1,170
2018: 168 births, rank #1,141
2019: 150 births, rank #1,251
2020: 148 births, rank #1,250
20212021: 143 births, rank #1,307
2022: 148 births, rank #1,289
2023: 122 births, rank #1,473
2024: 147 births, rank #1,318
20252025: 137 births, rank #1,362
Bernard moved from #934 to #944 for boys between 2007 and 2008. Its highest annual birth count came in 1924, with 4,505 births.