Recorded 1880–2025 · United States
Bernie was most popular in 1960, when 266 American babies were given the name — ranking #1,083 that year. In 2025 it ranked #17,163, with 9 births. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 10,760 people named Bernie.
The Social Security Administration’s records begin in 1880, and Bernie is already there in that first year — so the name is older than the record and these figures cannot date it. It has been recorded in 145 of the 146 years since.
The Social Security Administration has recorded 10,760 American births named Bernie between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 5,345 are estimated to be alive today.
9 American babies were named Bernie in 2025, ranking #17,163 that year.
Bernie is too rare for a direction to mean much. It averaged 13 births a year across 2021–2025 against 10 a year a decade earlier — at these counts a single baby moves the percentage, and any year under five births is withheld at source.
Measured on recorded births. American births overall have fallen since 2007, so most established names lose births over any recent decade — a name can shed births and still hold its rank. Compare the rank above, which is measured against the other names of the same year.
Across the whole record Bernie is mostly a boy’s name — 14.3% of the 10,760 Americans given it were girls and 85.7% were boys. In births since 2016 it is 0% girls and 100% boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
Roughly 5,345 Americans named Bernie are alive today — 50% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 65 years old, and half are between 53 and 74.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
See Bernie on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org