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Etymology •
& Meaning •
Hebrew •
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Meaning and etymology of the name Bernice
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Bernice 
When Paul was heard in Caesarea by king Agrippa the Second, Bernice was present (Acts 25:13). Bernice and Agrippa the Second were both children of king Agrippa the Great (and according to Josephus', The Wars of the Jews - book 1, section 552, children of Salome; their sister was Drusilla), but that didn't prevent them from being together. That is, after Bernice's first husband, her uncle Herod, had passed away. She left brother Agrippa and married king Polemo of Cilicia, but their marriage didn't last long. She returned to brother Agrippa but quickly averted her amorous attentions to emperor Vespasian, and his son, emperor Titus. Whether Bernice ever truly experienced love, the annals don't say.
The name Bernice is a Frenchified version of the Greek name Bernike, and Bernike, or also (berenike) was once the name of a constellation. Which one isn't clear but it was probably appreciated as the bringer of victories (and why will soon be clear). The word was also used in the meaning of a throw of the dice, or to indicate a certain plant. The related word (berenikioes) means (women's) shoes.
The name Ber(e)nice consists of two elements. The latter bit of the name Bernice comes from the familiar Greek noun (nika), meaning victory (as in Nike, the sport brand, and the Biblical names Eunice, Nicanor, Nicodemus, Nicolas, and Nicopolis).
The origin of first part of the name Bernice becomes clear when we realize that the spelling with a beta was the Macedonian form of the more common spelling with a phi: (pherenike). Apparently, the b- and the v-sounds were similar enough to allow interchanging. The same happens in Hebrew, that's why we speak of the city called Tell Aviv, which is spelled Tell Abib.
The phere-part of the word pherenike comes from the verb (phero), meaning to bear or carry (a load). This verb shows up in a wide variety of words, some notable ones:
(phereoinos), meaning wine-bearing;
(pherepteros), meaning wing-bearing;
(pheresbios), meaning life-giving;
(pherezoos), meaning bringing life;
(phereauges), meaning light bringing, and
(pheremelos), meaning producing sheep!
The name Bernice means Bringer Of Victory.
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