Besnard Surname Meaning & Coat of Arms

It is easy to miss Besnard in an index if you only search for Bénard. Read literally, Besnard points to “Strong bear”.

Arms associated with the name

There is no single Besnard family crest for every bearer. Herald Lab researches the arms historically associated with the name and explains whose they were.

A variant of Bénard

Before spelling was fixed, Bénard was also written Besnard. Local scribes, dialects and emigration all left their mark on how the name was written.

INSEE counts 20,798 people born in France with the Besnard surname between 1891 and 2000; the busiest decade was 1951–1960. There were 907 such births in the 1890s and 1,836 in the 1990s. For the full story, order the Besnard surname pack.