Bear

What Bear means

Meaning not yet sourced. Wiktionary has no word-by-word meaning for Bear yet, and we don’t write our own.

Editor’s note First shows up in US records in 1975, with 6 babies Worked out from the official US and England & Wales counts, not a meaning.

How popular is Bear?

US: Rising: up from #1317 in 2015. England & Wales: Rising: up from #856 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 2022, when 332 boys got the name (#760 that year). First in the US records in 1975.

How common

• About 1 in 5,972 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 2,324 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 2,806 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in UT (0.61 per 1,000 boys), OR (0.53 per 1,000 boys), CO (0.45 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Bear is #853 in the US and #360 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Bear were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

Other spellings

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Berry5 US
• Beri5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Bear

Boys

• Santiago#26Spanish form of James, meaning “May He Heel”^*
• Judah#178Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #178 vs #404 in 2025
• Milo#119Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #288 in 2015, #119 in 2025
• Nolan#65“descendant of Nuallán”^*
• Kash#286Editor’s note Up from #382 in 2015 to #286 in 2025 in the US
• Asher#28Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #28 vs #150 in 2025

For a sister

• Kinsley#93“Royal (a man's name) + s + woodland clearing”^*
• Violet#13From the word “violet”^*
• Adelaide#289“noble + nature, character”^*
• Isla#28Editor’s note Climbing fast in the US: #142 in 2015, #28 in 2025. Short and simple: 4 letters
• Valentina#35Same root as Valentine, meaning “strong, healthy”^*
• Evie#270Editor’s note Up from #510 in 2015 to #270 in 2025 in the US

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under where there are enough, topped up with common names whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Bear’s. Place names are only included if they are in the top 300. Rank is US 2025.