This is the 5445th most frequent French word.
bernard
"Bernard" is a French male given name, meaning "strong bear."
Used as a proper noun, referring to a person named Bernard.
Bernard est un homme très gentil.
Bernard is a very kind man.
Used as a noun, metaphorically referring to a hermit crab, often called 'bernard l'ermite' in French.
Le bernard l'ermite change souvent de coquille.
The hermit crab often changes its shell.
Here, 'bernard' is used colloquially to refer to an object, possibly as a pet name for something personalized or with special context.