Bernard ('' Bernhard'') is a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and

West Germanic The West Germanic languages constitute the largest of the three branches of the Germanic family of languages (the others being the North Germanic and the extinct East Germanic languages). The West Germanic branch is classically subdivided into ...

masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brave, hardy". Its native Old English reflex was ''Beornheard'', which was replaced by the French form ''Bernard'' that was brought to England after the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conq ...

. The name ''Bernhard'' was notably popular among

Old Frisian Old Frisian was a West Germanic language spoken between the 8th and 16th centuries along the North Sea coast, roughly between the mouths of the Rhine and Weser rivers. The Frisian settlers on the coast of South Jutland (today's Northern Frie ...

speakers. Its wider use was popularized due to Saint Bernhard of Clairvaux (canonized in 1174). Bernard is the second most common surname in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

Geographical distribution

As of 2014, 42.2% of all known bearers of the surname ''Bernard'' were residents of

(frequency 1:392), 12.5% of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

(1:7,203), 7.0% of

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

(1:382), 6.6% of

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

(1:1,961), 4.8% of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

(1:1,896), 3.6% of

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

(1:12,221), 2.7% of

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Gr ...

(1:894), 1.9% of

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

(1:1,500), 1.6% of Rwanda (1:1,745), 1.2% of

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

(1:16,397), 1.2% of

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

(1:595), 1.1% of

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in Ghana–Ivory Coast border, the west, Burkina ...

(1:6,179), 1.0% of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

(1:13,691) and 1.0% of

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

(1:6,098). In

, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:392) in the following regions:Bernard surname distribution
/ref> * 1.

Collectivity of Saint Martin The Collectivity of Saint Martin (french: Collectivité de Saint-Martin), commonly known as simply Saint Martin (, ), is an overseas collectivity of France in the West Indies in the Caribbean, on – but not identical with – the island of ...

(1:60) * 2.

Saint Barthélemy Saint Barthélemy (french: Saint-Barthélemy, ), officially the Collectivité territoriale de Saint-Barthélemy, is an overseas collectivity of France in the Caribbean. It is often abbreviated to St. Barth in French, and St. Barts in Englis ...

(1:189) * 3.

Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (; , sometimes abbreviated BFC; Arpitan: ''Borgogne-Franche-Comtât'') is a region in Eastern France created by the 2014 territorial reform of French regions, from a merger of Burgundy and Franche-Comté. The new region c ...

(1:260) * 4.

Nouvelle-Aquitaine Nouvelle-Aquitaine (; oc, Nòva Aquitània or ; eu, Akitania Berria; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Novéle-Aguiéne'') is the largest administrative region in France, spanning the west and southwest of the mainland. The region was created by ...

(1:283) * 5. Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (1:296) * 6.

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period o ...

(1:333) * 7.

Pays de la Loire Pays de la Loire (; ; br, Broioù al Liger) is one of the 18 regions of France, in the west of the mainland. It was created in the 1950s to serve as a zone of influence for its capital, Nantes, one of a handful of "balancing metropolises" (). ...

(1:336) * 8.

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its prefe ...

(1:348) * 9.

Hauts-de-France Hauts-de-France (; pcd, Heuts-d'Franche; , also ''Upper France'') is the northernmost region of France, created by the territorial reform of French regions in 2014, from a merger of Nord-Pas-de-Calais and Picardy. Its prefecture is Lille. The ...

(1:391)

List of people with the name

The following people and items share the name Bernard.

Given name

Catholic saints

*Saint Bernard: see Saint Bernard (disambiguation)#People

Medieval

* Bernard (bishop of Carlisle) (died 1214), 13th-century Catholic bishop * Bernard (bishop of Gaeta) (died 1047) * Bernard (bishop of St Davids) (1115–1148) * Bernard (son of Charles the Fat) (died 891 or 892), Duke of Alemannia *

Bernard Gui Bernard Gui (), also known as Bernardo Gui or Bernardus Guidonis (c. 1261/62 – 30 December 1331), was a Dominican friar, Bishop of Lodève, and a papal inquisitor during the later stages of the Medieval Inquisition. Due to his fictional ...

(c. 1260–1331), 14th century inquisitor * Bernard of Calvo ( Bernat Calbó), 13th-century saint and Bishop of Vich * Bernard of Carinola (died 1109), 12th-century saint and Bishop of Carinola * Bernard of Cluny, 12th-century Benedictine monk * Bernard of Kilwinning (d. c. 1331), Scottish abbot and chancellor * Bernard of Quintavalle (died 1241), companion of St. Francis of Assisi *

Bernard of Verdun Little is known of the life of Bernard of Verdun, except that he was a Franciscan friar who may have been born in Verdun and lived in the second half of the thirteenth century. His most significant work was the Treatise on the Whole of Astronomy (' ...

, author of the ''Tractatus super totam astrologiam''

Modern

* Bernard (footballer) (Bernard Anício Caldeira Duarte), Brazilian footballer * Bernard Aluwihare (1902–1961), Sri Lankan politician *

Bernard Alvarez Bernard Alvarez is a retired NASCAR Grand National Series race car driver whose career spanned from 1964 to 1965.Bernard Anício Caldeira Duarte, known as "Bernard", Brazilian footballer *

Bernard Baruch Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870 – June 20, 1965) was an American financier and statesman. After amassing a fortune on the New York Stock Exchange, he impressed President Woodrow Wilson by managing the nation's economic mobilization in ...

(1870–1965), American financier and political adviser *

Bernard Berrian Bernard Berrian (born December 27, 1980) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Chicago Bears in the third round of the 2004 NFL Draft. He played college football at Fresno State. Berrian also played for the Minne ...

(born 1980), American football player *

Bernard Blaut Bernard Blaut (3 January 1940 – 19 May 2007) was a Polish football player, who is most famous for his 1960s performances in both Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional foot ...

(1940–2007), Polish football player *

Bernard Bonnejean Bernard Bonnejean (born 10 June 1950 in Ernée, Mayenne), is a French author, specialist of catholic French poetry of 19th and 20th centuries. Youth Bernard Bonnejean is the last of eight children of a family of Picardy’s origin. In 1959 the f ...

(born 1950), French author * Bernard Boursicot (born 1944), on whom the play ''M. Butterfly'' was based *

Bernard Butler Bernard Joseph Butler (born 1 May 1970) is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the first guitarist with Suede, until his departure in 1994. He has been hailed by some critics as the greatest guitarist of hi ...

(born 1970), English musician * Bernard Caprasse (born 1949), Belgian politician *

Bernard Cerquiglini Bernard Cerquiglini (born 8 April 1947 in Lyon, France), is a French linguist. A Graduate of the