Berniece
Feminine name derived from Bernice, which is of Ancient Greek origin meaning "one who brings victory".
Name Census estimates that about 994 living Americans carry the first name Berniece. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Berniece today is around 77 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Berniece births was 1918 (476 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Berniece. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Berniece is about 77 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Bernieces were born before 1959.
People living today
994
~ 1 in 344,823 Americans
Peak year
1918
476 babies that year
Average age
77
years old
2013 SSA rank
#14,902
Tracked since 1886
Census
Berniece in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,488 people with the first name Berniece, which placed it at #9,364 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#9,364
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5K
1,488 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.5
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Berniece
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berniece is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.4%) and Hispanic (5.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Berniece described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Berniece at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.5% · 1,168
- Black or African American12.4% · 185
- Hispanic or Latino5.6% · 83
- Two or more races2.0% · 30
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.0% · 15
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5% · 7
Popularity
Berniece: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Berniece from the 1880s through to the 2010s, spanning 14 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 3,417 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Berniece by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Berniece during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Bernieces live
The SSA's state-level files cover 36 states and territories. Missouri, Illinois, Iowa recorded the most babies named Berniece, while South Carolina, Massachusetts, West Virginia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 190 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Berniece
The name Berniece has its origins in the Germanic language, stemming from the root words "bern" meaning "bear" and "ric" meaning "power" or "ruler." It is believed to have emerged as a feminine form of the masculine name Bernard during the Middle Ages.
In its early days, the name Berniece was primarily used in regions with Germanic cultural influences, such as parts of modern-day Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Variations in spelling included Bernyce, Bernice, and Berniz.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Berniece can be found in a 12th-century chronicle from the Benedictine monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland, which mentioned a noblewoman named Berniece von Salm.
During the Middle Ages, the name Berniece gained some popularity among the nobility and aristocracy of Europe. A notable historical figure bearing this name was Berniece of Navarre (1252-1315), the wife of Henry I, King of Navarre.
As the name spread and evolved, it found its way into various literary works and religious texts. In the 16th century, the English playwright William Shakespeare included a character named Berniece in his play "All's Well That Ends Well."
Over the centuries, several notable women have carried the name Berniece. These include Berniece Farmer Childhood (1890-1986), an American journalist and advocate for women's rights, and Berniece Baker Miracle (1909-1996), a pioneering American aviator and flight instructor.
Another prominent figure was Berniece Longfield (1900-1970), an American actress and vaudeville performer who appeared in numerous Broadway productions and Hollywood films in the early 20th century.
In the realm of literature, Berniece Abbott (1898-1991) was an American photographer and writer known for her iconic portraits and documentation of 1930s New York City.
Berniece Prysock (1928-2021), an American jazz singer and actress, also left a lasting legacy in the entertainment industry, performing with renowned musicians and appearing in several films and television shows.
People
Berniece + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Berniece as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Berniece: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Berniece?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 994 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Berniece going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 344,823 US residents.
Is Berniece a common name?
We classify Berniece as "Very Rare". It ranks above 90.1% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 9,909 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Berniece most popular?
The single biggest year for Berniece was 1918, when 476 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Berniece is about 77 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Berniece in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,488 people with the name Berniece, or 0.49 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #9,364 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Berniece in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Berniece?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Berniece appears almost entirely female. Of the 1,490 people counted with this name, 99.7% were female and only a very small share were male. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Berniece?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Berniece is White at 78.5%. The next largest groups are Black (12.4%) and Hispanic (5.6%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Berniece most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Berniece in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.5% (1,168 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Berniece in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Berniece a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Berniece in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Berniece still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Berniece in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Berniece can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Berniece?
See how many Americans are named Berniece on HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site built around that single question.