I like
Bernard much better than
Bernie, which I find really unappealing.
The usual US pronunciation, with the second syllable stressed, sounded wrong and clumsy and unexpected to me - nobody says harALD, after all - and when applied to
George Bernard Shaw was even comic; I preferred BERnard or
Bernd. To my great surprise, I've recently learnt that there's a South African (English speaking) berNARD in his sixties or seventies, who is a friend of a friend and certainly an old man. If one, there must be others.
Bernard would sound silly with my ln, so I'd only consider using it as a mn.