At a Glance: Name: Bern – Meaning: brave/strong as a bear (as a given name, via Bernard); the Swiss city's own name has a separate, disputed origin – Origin: Germanic (given name, short form of Bernard/Bernie) – Gender: Unisex – Pronunciation: BURN
Bern is a Germanic (given name, short form of Bernard/Bernie) unisex name meaning “brave/strong as a bear (as a given name, via Bernard); the Swiss city's own name has a separate, disputed origin”. It appears in our list of 175+ European City Baby Names With Old-World Elegance.
Meaning & Origin of Bern
Meaning: Brave/strong as a bear (as a given name, via Bernard); the Swiss city's own name has a separate, disputed origin.
Origin: Germanic (given name, short form of Bernard/Bernie).
A common claim: Bern is said to mean 'bear', supposedly named after the first animal its founder saw, and the bear remains the city's heraldic symbol Actually: For the city name, this is a documented folk etymology, not the accepted derivation -- current scholarship favors a Celtic word for 'cleft' or 'ravine'. As a personal name (short for Bernard/Bernie), the 'bear' association is genuine, just via an unrelated Germanic root.
Source: Wiktionary.
How to Pronounce Bern
Phonetic: BURN IPA: /bɜːrn/
Popularity of Bern
Bern doesn’t appear in U.S. Social Security birth records, which include every name given to at least five babies in a year — so it’s rare in the U.S.
Lists That Include Bern
Similar Names
Geneva · Vienna · Zurich · Prague · Innsbruck · Salzburg
