Fun Facts About the Name Bear
- More than 3 thousand babies named Bear: U.S. records list 3,352 babies given the name Bear from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Bear Mean?
Bear is an English word name taken from the common noun for the animal, and its older sense is "the brown one." The English word comes from Old English bera, from Proto-Germanic *berô, the general Germanic term for the bear that also appears as German Bär, Dutch beer, and Old Saxon bero. Etymologists usually connect *berô to an Indo-European root *bʰer-, "brown," so the animal's name is thought to have begun as a description rather than as a name in its own right. The name is not related to the English verb bear ("to carry"), which goes back to a separate Old English verb, beran.
Bear Name History & Origins
Old English bera is recorded as the everyday word for the bear, and the same Germanic word stands behind the modern animal names in Dutch and German. The Scandinavian languages used a different form of the same Germanic stock, Old Norse bjǫrn, which became the personal name Björn. The English given name Bear does not descend from Björn or from the continental Germanic name element Bern- seen in names such as Bernard; it is simply the English noun used as a name.
Bear also appears as an English surname, recorded from the Middle Ages onward. A surname of this shape can come from a nickname drawn from the animal, but it can equally come from Old English bearu, "grove," for someone who lived by one, and surviving records often make the two origins hard to separate.
As a given name, Bear belongs with modern English word names taken directly from common nouns, and it is used in English-speaking countries both as an independent name and as a nickname that has been adopted as a first name. English also uses the word in translations of personal names from other languages, where a name built on the native word for bear is rendered into English as Bear rather than transliterated, as with names of Native American leaders recorded in English as Standing Bear. Old English poetry also had the word beorn, "warrior, nobleman," which is sometimes linked to the bear word, though that connection is uncertain.
How Popular is the Name Bear?
Bear recorded its highest annual U.S. birth count in 2022. Its best rank was #763 in 2022.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | #853 | 286 | 0.0167% |
| 2024 | #826 | 300 | 0.0175% |
| 2023 | #820 | 299 | 0.0175% |
| 2022 | #763 | 331 | 0.0190% |
| 2021 | #826 | 288 | 0.0165% |
| 2020 | #900 | 250 | 0.0145% |
| 2019 | #897 | 244 | 0.0136% |
| 2018 | #998 | 207 | 0.0114% |
| 2017 | #1,020 | 198 | 0.0107% |
| 2016 | #1,056 | 187 | 0.0099% |
| 2015 | #1,320 | 134 | 0.0070% |
| 2014 | #1,329 | 131 | 0.0068% |
| 2013 | #1,724 | 85 | 0.0045% |
| 2012 | #1,849 | 79 | 0.0042% |
| 2011 | #1,731 | 85 | 0.0045% |
| 2010 | #2,356 | 54 | 0.0028% |
| 2009 | #2,350 | 55 | 0.0028% |
| 2008 | #2,590 | 48 | 0.0024% |
| 2007 | #4,135 | 24 | 0.0012% |
| 2006 | #8,815 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2005 | #7,173 | 10 | 0.0005% |
| 2003 | #8,754 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 2002 | #9,519 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 2001 | #7,599 | 8 | 0.0004% |
| 2000 | #9,204 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1997 | #8,229 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1994 | #8,914 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1981 | #6,371 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1975 | #4,849 | 6 | 0.0004% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
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How the Name Bear Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You can go to great heights and equally great depths. You are emotional and fixed in your opinions. You are hospitable, sentimental, often psychic, sometimes moody. You are ruled by love and the lack of it and feel a need to be encouraged and appreciated. You have an eventful, exciting life. You are versatile and have the ability to learn easily.
Position and social status is very important for you and you are always looking for way to improve your position in society. You have power and ability to chose your own destiny and achieve anything you want in life. You can expand in any direction according to your will and the set of values. You have passion for justice and belong to the position of authority. You have an inherent courage and endurance to accomplish "The Impossible Dream". With the power comes responsibility. You hold keys to the material world, but with this gift comes high spiritual responsibility to be fair and true to others. You are philosophical and mature, determined and intense with a desire to endure, often religious.
✦ Bear's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Bear's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.