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I really like Bernard a lot, but only if the first syllable is emphasised. berNARD isn't what I'm used to, and I don't expect I'll ever get used to it, so ... maybe in Fantasyland it would be safer to be faux-German and use Berndt. Outside Fantasyland I wouldn't use it at all: too many names I like better.

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I'd also avoid Bernardette, Bernarda etc. And I know a Bernice with a German father, Bernhardt; her parents 'named her after him', in their own estimation anyway. I like Bernhardt and would use it or Berndt if I'd married a German, but I really don't enjoy Bernice at all.