Bernard m
English and French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements ber(n) bear + hard hardy, brave, strong. This was the name of three famous medieval churchmen: St Bernard of Menthon (923–1008), founder of a hospice on each of the Alpine passes named after him; the monastic reformer St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153); and the scholastic philosopher Bernard of Chartres. In England before the Norman Conquest a native Old English form of the name, Beornheard, existed, but it is the Norman form, derived through French from Continental Germanic, that became established as a conventional English given name.
Cognates: Gaelic: Bearnard. Italian, Spanish: Bernardo. Catalan: Bernat. German: Bernhard(t), Bernd(t). Scandinavian: Bernt.
Pet form: English: Bernie.
First names dictionary. 2012.