# Barbara (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/barbara/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | girls |
| Origin | Latin |
| Meaning | “strange”, “foreign” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɑɹb(ə)ɹə/, 3 syllables |
| Nicknames | Babs, Bar, Barb, Barbie, Barbs, Babby |
| Variant spellings | Barbra |
| US babies named this | 1,440,831 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 4,136 / 1,436,695 (100% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | 671, 1996 to 2025 |

## Etymology

* From Latin Barbara, the name of Saint Barbara, feminine form of barbarus, from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “strange, foreign”). Doublet of Varvara. * (logic): From the given name; chosen because it has three A's in it representing universal affirmatives.

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 369 | 746 |
| 2012 | 296 | 894 |
| 2013 | 321 | 831 |
| 2014 | 326 | 848 |
| 2015 | 329 | 850 |
| 2016 | 329 | 856 |
| 2017 | 303 | 890 |
| 2018 | 291 | 921 |
| 2019 | 287 | 922 |
| 2020 | 301 | 886 |
| 2021 | 299 | 904 |
| 2022 | 276 | 967 |
| 2023 | 308 | 871 |
| 2024 | 317 | 853 |
| 2025 | 264 | 968 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 15 | 2,916 |
| 1980 | 13 | 3,275 |
| 1981 | 14 | 3,044 |
| 1982 | 11 | 3,708 |
| 1983 | 9 | 4,161 |
| 1984 | 18 | 2,621 |
| 1985 | 11 | 3,820 |
| 1986 | 8 | 4,890 |
| 1987 | 9 | 4,600 |
| 1988 | 9 | 4,818 |
| 1989 | 11 | 4,550 |
| 1990 | 5 | 8,229 |
| 1991 | 9 | 5,557 |
| 1992 | 7 | 6,729 |
| 1993 | 5 | 8,819 |

### England and Wales, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 34 | 1,015 |
| 2012 | 30 | 1,130 |
| 2013 | 26 | 1,291 |
| 2014 | 25 | 1,299 |
| 2015 | 22 | 1,452 |
| 2016 | 34 | 1,031 |
| 2017 | 27 | 1,258 |
| 2018 | 42 | 886 |
| 2019 | 32 | 1,063 |
| 2020 | 26 | 1,238 |
| 2021 | 23 | 1,351 |
| 2022 | 17 | 1,685 |
| 2023 | 22 | 1,410 |
| 2024 | 14 | 2,000 |
| 2025 | 11 | 2,440 |

## In other languages

- Arabic: بَرْبَارَة
- Armenian: Վարվառե
- Bulgarian: Варвара
- Catalan: Bàrbara
- Chinese: 芭芭拉, 巴巴拉
- Czech: Barbora, Barbara
- Danish: Barbara
- Esperanto: Barbro
- Estonian: Barbara
- Finnish: Barbara
- French: Barbara, Barbe
- Georgian: ბარბარე
- German: Barbara
- Greek: Βαρβάρα
- Hebrew: ברברה
- Hungarian: Barbara, Borbála
- Irish: Bairbre
- Italian: Barbara
- Latin: Barbara
- Latvian: Baiba

## People named Barbara

- Barbara McClintock, American scientist and cytogeneticist
- Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (1907–1990)
- Barbara Bush, First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993 (1925–2018)
- Saint Barbara, early Christian saint and martyr, from Nicomedia
- Barbara Walters, American broadcast journalist (1929–2022)
- Barbara Cartland, English writer and media personality (1901-2000)
- Barbara Hershey, American actress
- Barbara W. Tuchman, American historian and author (1912–1989)
- Barbara Liskov, American computer scientist
- Barbara Bel Geddes, American actress (1922–2005)
- Barbara Kingsolver, American author, poet and essayist
- Barbara Bouchet, German-American actress and entrepreneuse

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.