Bernadeta
Latin at root, with a meaning that comes out as "brave bear". Around 22,000 Polish women carry it, but it's fading now: only a handful of girls got it last year, so meeting a young Bernadeta is memorable.
Bernadeta Pronunciation
Bernadeta is pronounced ber-nah-DE-tah (/bɛrnaˈdɛta/).
What Bernadeta means
Where Bernadeta comes from and what it has meant to the people who carry it.
Bernadeta came into Polish through Latin, and the meaning behind it is blunt and physical: brave bear. Polish glosses it as silna jak niedźwiedź, strong as a bear. The two old roots that formed the name point to a bear and to courage, so the sense of strength was present from the start.
The name keeps close family. Bernard is the masculine form, Bernardyna its fuller feminine relative, and Bernardeta a near-identical variant. That is a tight cluster for one small name.
Its most famous bearer is Bernadette Soubirous, the miller's daughter of Lourdes, canonised long after her death in 1879. Her feast on 16 April gives Polish Bernadetas their imieniny. Picture the name read out from a class register on that spring day. The meaning holds underneath: a bear, and courage.
When Bernadeta celebrates name day
Bernadeta appears 3 times in the Polish name day calendar, 2 of them as a main name, the first on 11 February.
The days Polish calendars list this name on. By custom you celebrate one of them, usually the first after your birthday.
Rarer dates. Only the most complete calendars add this name on these days. Most skip them, so hardly anyone celebrates then.
How many people are named Bernadeta
1 in 999 women in Poland is named Bernadeta. 22,575 people carry it in the 2025 register: rank #260 among female names.
Bernadeta's popularity over time
4 girls were given the name in 2025, ranking #1013 among newborns. It has been falling steadily since 2000. Still the #260 name among living women, even as it slips to #1013 among newborns.
Where Bernadeta is most popular
Bernadeta is most popular in Silesian, 375% above the national average (7 girls born 2019–2025), followed by Lesser Poland (+240%) and Pomeranian (+110%).
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Silesian7 girls born+375%
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Lesser Poland5 girls born+240%
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Pomeranian2 girls born+110%
Bernadeta as a middle name
Bernadeta is a first name for 22,575 women in Poland and a middle name for another 16,482, a 58/42 split, almost evenly. In the women's middle-name ranking it sits 92nd, between Amelia (17,755) and Olga (16,119).
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#90 Laura18,174
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#91 Amelia17,755
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#92 Bernadeta16,482
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#93 Olga16,119
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#94 Anastazja16,036