Boy · Germanic, through Norman French
Bertram
Say it: BUR-trum
Meaning
From Germanic berht 'bright' and hraban 'raven'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
A Norman name revived in the 19th century; Bertrand is the French form.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1910s
In the United States
- 7,915 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1917, about 1 in 4,600 boys
- 9 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
Used by
The family of the name
Other spellings: Bertrand
| German | Bertram |
|---|---|
| French | Bertrand |
| Italian | Bertrando |
Famous bearers
- Bertrand du Guesclin, French commander
- Bertrand Russell, philosopher
- Bertram Wooster, character of P. G. Wodehouse
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Domesday Book (1086) source
- Royal and noble genealogies
- Medieval European charters and records
- Well-known works of literature
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.