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Barbara Name Meaning, Origins & History

Barbara

Pronunciation: BAR-buh-ruh / BAR-bruh

Meaning Stranger Origin Latin Gender Girl
GIRLS RANK
#968
TREND
108
Peak Years
1947, 1948, 1946
Lowest Years
1880, 1881, 1882
Energy Archetype
Emotional & Intuitive

Rank shows the name’s position among U.S. baby names for each gender in 2025. Trend shows how many places it rose or fell since 2024. Rank 1 is the most popular. Based on U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) data. Peak and lowest years are based on the number of girls named Barbara in the available records.

Fun Facts About the Name Barbara

  • Decades of popularity: Barbara stayed in the U.S. top 100 for 65 consecutive years, from 1913 through 1977.
  • More than 1 million babies named Barbara: U.S. records list 1,440,801 babies given the name Barbara from 1880 through 2025. Even 4,135 boys received the name Barbara - about 1 boy for every 347 girls.

What Does the Name Barbara Mean?

Barbara is a feminine name meaning "foreign woman" or "stranger." It comes from Latin Barbara, the feminine form of barbarus, which was borrowed from Greek bárbaros (βάρβαρος). In Greek, bárbaros described a person who did not speak Greek; the word imitated the sound of foreign speech as "bar-bar," so it meant "non-Greek-speaking," "foreign," and later "barbarian." Latin barbarus kept those senses. The feminine Barbara began as a descriptive word for a foreign or barbarian woman, and its use as a personal name grew from that word. The short gloss "foreign woman" reflects the literal root; the insulting force that bárbaros could have in ancient Greek is not part of the modern name's usual meaning.

Barbara Name History & Origins

The name reaches Western Europe through Latin Barbara, while Greek-speaking Christians used the form Varvára (Βαρβάρα). That Greek form passed into Slavic languages as Varvara (Варвара), familiar in Russian and Bulgarian. Several European languages took the Latin form: Spanish and Portuguese have Bárbara, Italian has Barbara, French has Barbe, and Czech has Barbora. English uses Barbara from the Latin tradition.

The central early association is Saint Barbara, a virgin martyr venerated in Eastern and Western Christianity. Her traditional legend places her in the 3rd or 4th century as the daughter of a wealthy pagan named Dioscorus; she became a Christian, was imprisoned in a tower, and was killed by her father. The story is hagiographic rather than a contemporary historical record, but her cult became widespread in the Middle Ages. In the Western church she was counted among the Fourteen Holy Helpers and was invoked against sudden death, lightning, and fire; those associations also made her a patron of miners, gunners, and firefighters. Her feast day is December 4. In 1969 the Roman Catholic Church removed her memorial from the General Roman Calendar because of the lack of reliable historical evidence, though veneration of Saint Barbara continued in local calendars and in Eastern Orthodoxy.

In English, the name is associated with the medieval veneration of Saint Barbara, and it is found in English records by the early modern period. Its English diminutives include Babs and Barbie.

How Popular is the Name Barbara?

Barbara remained among the top 100 girl names in the U.S. from 1913 to 1977. Its highest annual birth count was in 1947, and people born that year turn 79 in 2026.

U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.

Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.

Famous People Named Barbara

Barbara Barrie
Barbara Barrie
Barbara De Angelis
Barbara De Angelis

Explore Name Lists Featuring Barbara

Carl appears in several baby name collections based on U.S. popularity records, naming trends, and name characteristics. Explore these lists to discover other names with similar histories, styles, or features.

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How the Name Barbara Shapes Your Personality and Life?

You can go to great heights and equally great depths. You are emotional and fixed in your opinions. You are hospitable, sentimental, often psychic, sometimes moody. You are ruled by love and the lack of it and feel a need to be encouraged and appreciated. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.

You are very intuitive. You have a reservoir of inspired wisdom combined with inherited analytical ability, which could reward you through expressions of spiritual leadership, business analysis, marketing, artistic visions, and scientific research. Operating on spiritual side of your individuality can bring you to the great heights, and drop you off if you neglect your spiritual identity. You are always looking for an opportunity to investigate the unknown, to use and show your mental abilities, to find the purpose and meaning of life. You want to grow wise and to understand people and things. You need privacy to replenish your energy. You have a unique way of thinking, intuitive, reflective, absorbing.

✦ Barbara's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Barbara's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.
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