Bernhard

Bernhard is the 8,926th most common surname in the United States, shared by 3,519 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 84,900.

By the numbers

People: 3,519
Rank: 8,926th
How common: 1 in 84,900
Per 100,000: 1.2

Where the name comes from

German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Jewish surname, from an old Germanic name composed of *bernuz (“bear”) + *harduz (“hardy, brave”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Bernhard described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 92.4%
Hispanic or Latino 3.8%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 2.6%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.9%
Black, not Hispanic 0.3%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.09%

Notable people called Bernhard

Thomas Bernhard (1931–1989)Austrian playwright and novelist
Sandra Bernhard (born 1955)American actress
Timo Bernhard (born 1981)German racing driver, 2015 World Endurance Drivers' Champion
Ruth Bernhard (1905–2006)American photographer
Gösta Bernhard (1910–1986)Swedish actor, director and comedian
Christoph Bernhard (1628–1692)German composer
Rolf Bernhard (born 1949)Swiss long jumper

People named Bernhard with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Bernhard

Also a first name

Bernhard has been given to 1,671 American babies as a first name since 1880, peaking in 1916. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.