Explore the Family Name Berney

The meaning of Berney

1. English: variant of Burney. 2. Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Biorna ‘son of Biorna’. See Burney 2 and McBurney. 3. French: from a derivative of the personal name Bernard or any other name composed of the ancient Germanic element ber(n) ‘bear’. 4. Jewish (American): from a derivative of the Yiddish personal name Ber.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Berney in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the popularity of the surname Berney saw a decrease from 2000 to 2010. It fell in rank from 22,809 to 25,314, a drop of approximately 11%. The count of individuals with this surname also decreased during this period by about 7%, from 1,049 to 978. Consequently, the proportion of people bearing the Berney surname per 100,000 dropped by 15.38%, moving from 0.39 to 0.33.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#22,809	#25,314	-10.98%
Count	1,049	978	-6.77%
Proportion per 100k	0.39	0.33	-15.38%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Berney

Looking at the ethnicity associated with the surname Berney, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows interesting trends between 2000 and 2010. The percentage of those identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander more than doubled, increasing by 96.49%, while the Hispanic population grew by 63.5%. The count for American Indian and Alaskan Natives rose by 61.4%. On the other hand, there was a notable decrease in those identifying as Black, with a decline of 41.53%, and those indicating they were of two or more races, which decreased by 35.6%. The White population saw a small increase of 0.28%, maintaining their majority status among those with the Berney surname.

	2000	2010	Change
White	90.75%	91%	0.28%
Hispanic	2%	3.27%	63.5%
Black	4.19%	2.45%	-41.53%
Two or More Races	1.91%	1.23%	-35.6%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.57%	1.12%	96.49%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.57%	0.92%	61.4%