Berenice - Origin and Meaning of the name

[ syll. be-re-ni-ce, ber-en-ice ] The girl name Berenice is pronounced BEHerEHNahS- ^KEY. Berenice has its origins in the Old Greek language, and it is used largely in English, German, and Italian. Berenice has the meaning 'bearer of victory'. Biblical name derived from phero which means 'to bear, to carry' ; nike which means 'victory'. An old form of the name is the Old Greek Pherenike. The name is from the ancient Macedonian form for the Greek name Pherenike; it has the same origins as Veronica. The name was borne in the Bible by a sister of King Herod Agrippa II, and by a Christian mentioned in the Book of Acts. The name was also borne by Berenika (350 BC), priestess of Demetra in Lete. The Egyptian queen Berenice I brought the name into Egypt after she married Ptolemy I; her husband later named a Red Sea port after her. The name was introduced to Europe and Asia after the conquests of Alexander the Great. It was later adopted by English Puritans in the 17th century.

Variant forms of Berenice include the Scottish Bearnas, the German Berenike, the English Berenis, the English Bernessa, the Spanish Bernicia, the English Bernise, and the French Bérénice. The short form Bernice (English), and the pet forms Bernetta (English), Bernie (English), Berry (English), Binnie (English), and Bunny (English) are other variants of the name.

Berenice is unusual as a baby name for girls. Its usage peaked modestly in 1995 with 0.017% of baby girls being named Berenice. Its ranking then was #655. The baby name has since dropped out of favor, and is currently of only sporadic use. Among all girl names in its group, Berenice was nevertheless the most commonly used in 2007.

Baby names that sound like Berenice include the French Bérénice, the English Berenis, the German Berenike, the English Bernessa, the Spanish Bernicia, the Scottish Bearnas, the English Bernice, the English Bernise, the Galician and Portuguese Branca, the Welsh Brangwy, the English Brani, and the Czech and Slavic Branka.

^KEY: approx pronunciation for Berenice: B as in "be (B.IY)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; ER as in "hurt (HH.ER.T)" ; EH as in "Ed (EH.D)" ; N as in "knee (N.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)"

Popularity Trend
for Berenice
from 1900 to 2007

Variant Popularity Chart
for Berenice
in 2007