Given name & surname
Bernal
“having the strength of a bear”
Bernal is used as a given name and a surname. One German interpretation is “having the strength of a bear.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
One German interpretation is “having the strength of a bear.”
Where it comes from
An origin associated with this spelling is German.
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1914. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Bernal through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 190
- 190 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1918
- 18 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 5 in 1969. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Its largest published annual count for boys was 18 in 1918. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 312 as a first name in 2020; 38,729 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Bernal’s family of names
Bernal has a related form in Bernald. Bernal has a related form in Bernhald. Bernal has a related form in Bernhold.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Bernal has relatives in 3 languages. Lines run from its German roots to each of them.
3 related names in 3 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 6
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 11
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
- Bernardequivalent
- Bernardoequivalent
- Bernhardequivalent
- Bernaldoequivalent
- Berendequivalent
- Bernharðequivalent
- Bernharðurequivalent
- Bernatequivalent
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People named Bernal
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Bernal, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Buster
“pockmark, boil”
>99% boys
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Hartzell is a surname from German.
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Rector is a surname from German.
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Mayland
“milan”
>99% boys
Ferdinand
“a courageous voyager”
>99% boys
Adelaido
“shining with nobility”
>99% boys
Voight
Voight is a surname from German, ultimately from Latin.
>99% boys
Erwin
“a friend of the wild boar”
>99% boys