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Bernardo

boy name
Origin
Portuguese
Syllables
3
Peak era
1980s/2020s
Today
▬ Steady

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Meaning

brave as a bear (Portuguese form of the German Bernhard)

Famously borne by Bernardo O'Higgins, who led Chile to independence and became its first Supreme Director.

The story

Bernardo carries the Germanic elements for "bear" and "brave" or "hardy" through the Italian, Spanish and Portuguese forms of Bernard. The medieval abbot Bernard of Clairvaux was canonized twenty-one years after his death and was later named a Doctor of the Church. Brazil has made the name distinctly young: its 2022 census gives Bernardo a median age of six, with roughly five times as many bearers from the most recent complete decade as from the one before. Civil registrations placed it seventh among boys in 2025. Brazilian volleyball coach Bernardo Rocha de Rezende became Bernardinho when a childhood coach needed to distinguish him from a teammate called Bernard. Remembering Brazil’s men’s Olympic gold in Rio, he lingered on his two daughters embracing their brother Bruno after the medals.

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How popular is Bernardo around the world?

In the United States, 810 babies were named Bernardo between 2020 and 2025. At the 2022 census, 227,232 people in Brazil were named Bernardo, the 139th most common name, with a median age of 6.

Bernardo is on the official records of the United States, Brazil, Spain, Mexico City, Ireland, Chile, Argentina, England and Wales and Canada.

Bernardo crosses languages: it is in the latest top 300 of a Spanish-speaking record and of Brazil’s 2022 census, which counts people of every age. The full list: Spanish and Portuguese

United States

1 in 27,000

In the United States, 810 babies were named Bernardo between 2020 and 2025.

1890speak 1980s2020s

Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Bernardo peaked in the 1980s and the 2020s in nearly equal measure. In US birth records Bernardo has stayed between 600 and 1,977 births in every decade since the 1950s: a name everyone knows and few children get.

Births with a Social Security record. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration

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Brazil

1 in 890

At the 2022 census, 227,232 people in Brazil were named Bernardo, the 139th most common name, with a median age of 6.
Among people named Bernardo living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2010s than in any other decade.

1930speak 2010s

people alive at the 2022 census, by decade of birth

The census also counted 67,937 born between 2020 and August 2022, too recent a span to chart. People alive and resident in Brazil at the 2022 census, a living-population count, not births; names under 20 are withheld at source. Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022

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Spain

1 in 2,600

In Spain, 17,275 residents are named Bernardo, the 175th most common name among men, with a mean age of 58.8 years.

Residents of Spain on 1 January 2025. Spain publishes how old a name’s living bearers are, not a birth series, so there is no year chart. Source: INE (Spain), Censo de Población anual, 1 January 2025

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Mexico City City

1 in 4,200

In Mexico City, there were 28 registrations of Bernardo in 2022.

peak 20002022

share of that year’s registrations in the city

Civil-registry acts in Mexico City by registration year. Counts are lower bounds (names under 6 in a month and borough are removed at source) and count name-instances, not people; compound names are split, so “Maria Jose” counts under each part. 2023, a partial extract through 3 Mar with no cell on record for this name, is excluded. Source: Registro Civil of Mexico City, open data portal, registered given names 2000-2023

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Ireland

1 in 4,500

In Ireland, 12 boys named Bernardo were born in 2025, the 329th most common name among boys that year.

2010peak 2025

share of that year’s name registrations

Exact registered spellings from Irish vital statistics; any name under 3 in a year is withheld at source, and accented spellings (fadas) are recorded reliably only from 2018. Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland), Irish babies' names

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Chile

1 in 4,800

In Chile, 37 boys were registered as Bernardo in 2021, every accent spelling counted together.

1920peak 19462021

share of that year’s name registrations

First-name registrations with Chile’s civil registry by year of registration, 1920–2021, counted as spelling groups (Sofía, Sofia and Sofìa are one name, shown with its most-registered spelling); the registry withholds nothing, nametree keeps the groups that reached 5 registrations in some year, and shares divide by every registration of the year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificación (Chile) via the guaguas package, first-name registrations 1920-2021

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Argentina

1 in 6,200

In Argentina, 107 newborns were given the name Bernardo in 2024.

2012peak 20212024

share of that year’s name registrations

Given-name components of births in Argentina 2012–2024; national cells are lower bounds and no sex split is published. Source: RENAPER (Argentina), Dirección Nacional de Población, given names 2012-2024

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England and Wales

1 in 33,000

In England and Wales, 18 boys named Bernardo were born in 2025, ranked 1,466th among boys that year.

1996peak 2020

share of that year’s name registrations

Birth registrations in England and Wales (not the whole UK); exact spellings are counted separately, and any spelling under 3 in a year is withheld at source. Source: Office for National Statistics, baby names in England and Wales

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Canada

1 in 33,000

In Canada, 11 boys named Bernardo were born in 2024, ranked 1,817th among boys that year.

1991peak 2024

share of that year’s name registrations

First given names from provincial and territorial vital statistics across Canada; any name-sex-year under 5 is excluded at source, and small Quebec counts carry a randomized adjustment made at source. Shares divide by Statistics Canada’s count of live births for the year; the 2024 count is preliminary. Source: Statistics Canada, first names at birth (table 17-10-0147-01)

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Austria

last on record 2024

Bernardo is not on the 2025 record for Austria, which publishes every first name down to a single birth, so the name was not given there that year.
The count never rose above 4 in a year, too few to chart.

Live births in Austria by year of birth, 1984–2025, from Statistik Austria’s first-name statistics; spellings that differ only by special characters are counted together (umlauts stay apart), every name down to a single birth is published, and the count covers babies with Austrian citizenship only until 2009, every baby from 2010, and from 2015 also births abroad to mothers living in Austria. Shares divide by Statistik Austria’s count of live births from 2010, and before that by the file’s own total for the year. Source: Statistik Austria - data.statistik.gv.at (OGDEXT_VORNAMEN_1, updated 2026-07-09)

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Montevideo City

last on record 2010

Bernardo is not on the 2011 record for Montevideo, whose registry withholds nothing, so the spelling was not given there that year.

1940peak 19662011

share of that year’s births on record

Births in the department of Montevideo (not all of Uruguay) by first name and year of birth, 1940–2011, from the city’s civil registry, which writes names in capitals, almost always without accents; counted as spelling groups (accent and punctuation variants merged), nothing is withheld at source, and 2012 is excluded as a partial year. Source: Servicio de Registro Civil, Intendencia de Montevideo, Partidas de Registro Civil de Montevideo (Licencia de Datos Abiertos - Uruguay); 2012 dropped as partial

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Poland

last on record 2020

Bernardo is not on the 2025 record for Poland, where names given fewer than 2 times in a year are withheld at source.
The count never rose above 2 in a year, too few to chart.

First names given to children born in Poland by year of birth, 2000–2025, from the PESEL population register (Ministry of Digital Affairs); exact spellings count separately (Łukasz and Lukasz are different names), names given fewer than 5 times in a year were left off the list through 2012 and fewer than 2 times from 2013, and the register also counts children born abroad, so its yearly sums run above Poland’s live births. Shares divide by the register’s own published total for the year, never by births. Source: Ministry of Digital Affairs, PESEL register (dane.gov.pl)

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Puerto Rico

last on record 2000

Bernardo is not on the 2025 record for Puerto Rico, which withholds births under 5, and 12 babies have carried the name there since 1998.
The count never rose above 6 in a year, too few to chart.

First given name only, from Social Security records of births in Puerto Rico; any name-sex-year under 5 births is withheld at source. Shares divide by the Puerto Rico Demographic Registry’s count of births on the island; the 2025 count is provisional. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration, territory name file (Puerto Rico)

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South Australia

last on record 1974

Bernardo is not on the 2017 record for South Australia, whose registry publishes every name given that year.
The count never rose above 1 in a year, too few to chart.

Births registered in South Australia (not all of Australia) by first name and year of registration, 1944–2017, from the state’s Births, Deaths and Marriages registry, which publishes every name down to a single birth in capitals; a spelling its export repeats inside a year is counted once, and from 2018 only a top 100 is published, so the series ends at 2017. Source: Consumer and Business Services (South Australia), popular baby names

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Not on the record in New Zealand and Scotland: those registries withhold small counts, so rare uses may sit below their floors.

Not on the France record: nametree keeps spellings that reached 20 births in some year, so rarer uses are not shown. Not on Norway’s list: Statistics Norway lists only first names carried by 200 or more living people, so rarer names are not shown.

All records: the most popular baby names around the world →

When you meet Bernardo

Most people given the name Bernardo in the United States were born between 1970 and 2009. The Bernardo you meet today is most often in his 20s or 30s.

Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.

Names that fit alongside Bernardo

Davi Carlos Luis Frederico Jorge Pedro

Keep exploring

German Brazilian baby names · Portuguese and Brazilian baby names · Names of revolutionaries and liberators · Familiar but never popular

The Bernardo deep dive

Written for you · $1.99 →

Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Bernardo truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Bernardo fits with your family’s names and surname.

Both reports, explained →

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