Barbara

What Barbara means

Means “strange, foreign”

From Latin Barbara, the name of Saint Barbara, feminine form of barbarus, from Ancient Greek βάρβαρος (bárbaros, “strange, foreign”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Barbara” (revision 93847627), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Barbara?

US: Falling: down from #849 in 2015. England & Wales: Falling: down from #1452 in 2015.

Biggest US share so far: 1938, when 39,277 girls got the name (#2 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 6,088 baby girls in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 23,026 baby girls in England and Wales in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in PA (0.56 per 1,000 girls), KY (0.52 per 1,000 girls), IA (0.51 per 1,000 girls) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed girls born in each state.

US vs UK

Barbara is #968 in the US and #2440 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (girls). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 99.9+% of US babies named Barbara were girls.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Barbora0 US · 4 E&W

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

Spelling variants on Wiktionary

• Barbra

Listed as alternative forms on Wiktionary.

If you like Barbara

Girls

• Laura#379“laurel tree”^*
• Amy#257“beloved”^*
• Amanda#493“to love”^*
• Gloria#654“glory”^*
• Monica#736Editor’s note Down from #559 in 2015 to #736 in 2025 in the US
• Priscilla#544“former, ancient, old-fashioned”^*

For a brother

• Lawrence#518Editor’s note Down from #499 in 2015 to #518 in 2025 in the US
• Paul#262“small”^*
• Martin#335“of or like Mars”^*
• Mark#244Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1960, with 58,727 babies; 1,416 in 2025
• Justin#233“just”^*
• Marcus#258Editor’s note Peaked in the US in 1984, with 5,996 babies; 1,341 in 2025

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under Latin, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Barbara’s. Rank is US 2025.