Girls' name · peaked in 1946
Bernadette name popularity since 1925
50,185 babies born in the US from 1925 to 2025 were named Bernadette. Half of them were born in 1960 or earlier, so the typical Bernadette is about 66 years old in 2026. Bernadette peaked in 1946 as the #188 name for girls, and it was outside the top 1,000 in 2025.
Key facts
- US babies since 1925
- 50,185
- Named Bernadette, 1925–2025
- In 2025
- Not top 1,000
- #1,034 for girls in 2025
- Girls / boys
- 99.9% girls
- 50,125 girls · 60 boys
- Most popular in
- Hawaii
- 5.13× its national share
Peak year is the year Bernadette made up the largest share of US girls, in records going back to 1880. Typical age is based on births from 1925 on, not on who is living today.
Bernadette births per year, 1925–2025
The biggest year by count was 1958. Measured as a share of all babies, Bernadette peaked in 1946.
- Steepest fall: Between 1934 and 1939, Bernadette's share of baby girls fell by 44%.
- Fastest rise: Between 1941 and 1946, it became 3.1× more common, from 1 in 3,670 baby girls to 1 in 1,190.
Shaded on the chart. Both compare Bernadette's share of all US girls five years apart, counting only years with at least 100 babies named Bernadette.
Decade by decade
Babies named Bernadette in each decade, and its rank among girls' names in the middle year of the decade (1935, 1945 … 2025).
| Decade | Girls | Boys | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925–29 | 1,802 | 0 | – |
| 1930s | 3,772 | 0 | #315 |
| 1940s | 8,631 | 0 | #196 |
| 1950s | 10,701 | 0 | #278 |
| 1960s | 10,719 | 35 | #292 |
| 1970s | 5,887 | 20 | #381 |
| 1980s | 3,271 | 5 | #673 |
| 1990s | 1,980 | 0 | #1,039 |
| 2000s | 946 | 0 | #2,062 |
| 2010s | 1,259 | 0 | #1,479 |
| 2020–25 | 1,157 | 0 | #1,034 |
Ranks count every name given to at least 5 girls that year, so they can go past 1,000.
Generation fingerprint
42.5% of babies named Bernadette from 1925 to 2025 were born in the Baby Boom years (1946–1964). The full split by generation:
Where Bernadette is most popular
The index compares Bernadette's share of babies in each state with its share nationwide, 1925–2025 (1.50× = 50% more common). States with at least 300 babies named Bernadette.
| State | Index | Babies |
|---|---|---|
| Hawaii | 5.13× | 742 |
| New Mexico | 5.09× | 1,304 |
| Pennsylvania | 2.82× | 6,627 |
| New Jersey | 2.32× | 2,961 |
| New York | 2.21× | 7,754 |
Names with a similar story
Of the other 1999 names on this site, these six had the share of babies closest in shape to Bernadette's from 1925 to 2025, however common each one got. Each line is scaled to its own high; the dashed line is Bernadette.
Names from the same era
Other common names that peaked within two years of Bernadette (1946).
Source: U.S. Social Security Administration national and state baby-name data, which covers names given to at least 5 babies of one sex in a year. About the data