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Bernadine vs Bernarr

American parents have registered 21,933 Bernadines since 1880, against 80 Bernarrs. Bernadine is still ahead, with 6 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Bernadine against Bernarr, 1880 to 2025 0 150 300 450 600 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Bernadine Bernarr

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Bernadine has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1882 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1925, when Bernadine had 541 and Bernarr had 11.

Side by side

  Bernadine Bernarr
Total US births 21,93380
Most in one year 56311
Babies in 2025 6under 5
Estimated living today 7,6008
Median age today 7184
Peak year 19241924
Best rank 277th girls2,641st boys
Rank in 2025 13,208thunranked
First recorded 18821922
Girls / boys 21,933 / 00 / 80

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Bernarrs alive today are over 84; half the Bernadines are over 71. That is 13 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Bernadine and Bernarr.