The Berend Family Name

Search old registers for Berend and you will soon meet Bernhard too. Name scholars give the meaning as “from the name Bernhard”.

Spelling and variants

Before spelling was fixed, Bernhard was also written Berend. Before spelling was standardised, one family could appear under several forms.

The 2010 US Census counted 482 people named Berend, ranking it number 44,576 among American surnames. French civil records give 120 births under the name Berend from 1891 to 2000, peaking in 1961–1970.

Heraldry and the Berend name

Arms linked to Bernhard and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to.

For the full story, order the Berend surname pack.