ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 964
http://www.s-gabriel.org/964
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From: 
1 Jun 1998

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on <Beramann Heafodweard>, which you wanted
to use as a pre-conquest Anglo-Saxon (also called Old English) name.

You said that you constructed <Beramann> from the elements <Bera->
meaning "bear" and <-mann> meaning "man."  While most Anglo-Saxon
names were formed from two elements, not every word was used in a
name.  As far as we can tell, <bera> was not used in Old English
names.

The closest name we found is <Bereman>, dated to 1198, which could
possibly be a later form of the Old English name <Beornmann>.  (1)
<beorn-> is related to the Norse word <bjorn>, which means "bear," but
in Old English <beorn> meant "strong warrior" rather than "bear."
Although <Beornmann> doesn't have the exact meaning you're looking
for, it has a similar connotation.

You are correct that one-word names are most common in Old English.
If you don't want to register your name, then using just <Beornmann>
is the most historical option for you.  If you do want to register
your name, you will need a second name.  It won't be a family name,
since Anglo-Saxons didn't pass their names from father to son.  

We don't think that <Heafodweard> is a very likely byname for your
persona.  Although it can have the connotation of "protector," its
literal meaning is "someone who guards a dead body."  This is a word
in Old English, but it's not the kind of thing someone would do as a
profession.  The most common Old English bynames either indicated a
person's place or origin or his father--so that you could be, for
example, <Beornmann Beorhtwines sunu>, "Beornmann, son of Beorhtwine,"
or <Beornmann on Dentune>, "Beornmann, from Denton."

Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, and AElfwyn aet Gyrwum contributed to
this letter.

We hope that this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel

(1) Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_
(London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), under
"Barman."