A male name. Old German Berinhard, compound of berin ‘a bear', hard ‘stern’. The cognate Old English name was Beornheard (Old English beorn having acquired the sense brave, noble). Bernard was introduced into England at the Norman Conquest, and occurs in Domesday Book as the name of one tenant-in-chief and several sub-tenants. It is also given as the name of two tenants holding Tempore Regis Edwardi (In the Reign of Edward the Confessor), and though these may have been English Beornheards, it is more probable that they were of continental origin. It was a common name from the 12th C onwards, often in the English forms Barnard, Barnet, which were usual until the 15th C. For the development of Barnet cf. Arnet from Arnold, Barret from Berold. The influence of St Bernard of Clairvaux (1091-1153) may have had something to do with the popularity of the name, but it was well established on the Continent before his time. Its use declined after the Reformation though it survived in some families. Camden says: ‘It hath been most common in the house of Brus, of Connington and Exton.’ It was revived in the 19th C, probably by Tractarian influence. The diminutive Bernie is used in America.

Bernardus Domesday Book 1086,Curia Regis Rolls 1186—1219.Barnard 15th C Brut. Bernard Hundred Rolls 1273.