Given name
Bernadine
“one who has bearlike strength and courage”·“as strong and brave as a bear”
Bernadine is a feminine form of Bernard. One German interpretation is “as strong and brave as a bear.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
In English use, Bernadine carries the interpretation “one who has bearlike strength and courage.” Bernadine is a feminine form of Bernard. One German interpretation is “as strong and brave as a bear.”
Combines direct and name-family evidence
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is English.
How it developed
Bernadine is used as a feminine counterpart of Bernard.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1882. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Bernadine through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 21,933
- 0 boys · 21,933 girls
- Most popular year
- 1924
- 563 babies
- 2025
- 6
- #13,465 for girls
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 6 U.S. birth records for girls, ranking No. 13,465 among girls’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for girls was 563 in 1924. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 9,298 as a first name in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Bernadine’s family of names
Bernadine is a feminine form of Bernard. Bernadine has a related form in Bernadette. Bernadine has a related form in Bernarda.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Nicknames & forms 20
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 1
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
People named Bernadine
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Bernadine, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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