Bernhard
A Germanic surname from a personal name meaning “bold as a bear” or “strong bear.”
The #8,775 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 82,663 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bernhard comes from the old Germanic personal name Berinhard/Bernhard. The first element is usually explained as "bern" or "bero," meaning "bear," and the second as "hard," meaning "brave," "hardy," or "strong." In plain English, the name has the sense of "bear-brave" or "strong like a bear."
History
This surname developed from the widespread medieval given name Bernard/Bernhard, which was common across German-speaking Europe and later spread into other languages and countries. English and French forms often appear as Bernard, while Bernhard is the more clearly German spelling. Several historical sources also note that shorter forms such as Bernd arose from the same name family.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Medieval writers often treated Bernard as a name associated with the bear, which helped make it especially popular in Christian Europe.
From the historical record
“Barend, Berend, Bernd, m. ; fam. n., Barends, Berend, a contrac¬ tion of Bernhard Bauke, Bawke, Bafke or Bavke, f. dimin. of Old F. Bavo ; fam. n., Bavink”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)