Bern

Meaning

Proper Noun

• capital city Switzerland (country) ; capital city Bern (canton).
• canton Switzerland (country).
• A male given name.

Origin

• Alemannic German Bärn, of uncertain further origin.
• A popular folk etymology says it was named by its founder, Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen, after the first animal he saw in the area, a Bär (compare Berlin, subject to a similar folk etymology).
• The name is now thought to be connected to a Celtic word, Proto-Celtic *berna ("cleft") (from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-) and *branos (compare the name ΒΡΕΝΟΔΩΡ, on the Bern zinc tablet, which has also been connected with the Gaulish name Brennus). More at Bern.