Barbara
Featured in baby name books
Barbara means “foreign” or “stranger,” traced to Greek or Latin and sharing roots with the word “barbarian.” Barbara once carried real glamour through Barbara Stanwyck and Barbra Streisand, but it peaked around the 1950s and now feels like a parents’ generation name. Barbara can honor Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon, the nineteenth-century artist and campaigner who fought for women’s education, votes, and work, and helped fund Girton College in Cambridge. Barbara recalls Barbara Wright, the principled London schoolteacher who unwillingly travels with the Doctor in the early years of Doctor Who.
Sources: 10,000 Baby Names, Baby Names (Laura Emerson), Baby Names Made Easy, Baby Names Your Child Can Live With, The Best Baby Names for Girls, The Everything Baby Names Book, 1,107 Baby Names That Stand the Test of Time, Badass Baby Names, Sci-Fi Baby Names
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Usage of Barbara in different languages / cultures
The list below was created by gathering names from various sources for different languages, and then matching Barbara against each list of names.
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Albanian
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Arabic
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Armenian
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Bengali
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Bulgarian
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Catalan
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Chinese
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Cornish
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Croatian
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Czech
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Danish
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Dothraki
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Dutch
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English
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Estonian
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Filipino
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Finnish
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French
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Georgian
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German
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Greek
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Hawaiian
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Hebrew
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Hindi
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Hungarian
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Icelandic
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Indonesian
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Irish
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Italian
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Japanese
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Khmer
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Klingon
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Korean
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Latin
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Latvian
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Lithuanian
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Macedonian
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Norwegian
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Persian
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Polish
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Portuguese
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Romanian
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Russian
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Scottish
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Serbian
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Slovak
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Slovenian
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Spanish
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Swahili
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Swedish
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Telugu
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Thai
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Turkish
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Ukrainian
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Vietnamese
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Welsh
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Yiddish
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Yoruba
Note: In some cases it is possible for the check mark to be missing even if Barbara is used in a particular country, as almost no source name list has 100% coverage.
Barbara in official name statistics
United States
In 2025, 264 girls were named Barbara, making it the #968 girls' name in the US. Since 1880, 1,436,695 girls have been named Barbara, with the most (48,800) in 1947. It is most common, relative to births, in Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Iowa.
Source: Social Security Administration baby name data, 1880–2025. Names given to fewer than 5 babies in a year are not listed.
Other countries
Counts are babies born that year, or living people for "all ages" rows, as published by each country's statistics office or population register.
Barbara in other languages
- Babs English, Swedish
- Barbora Czech, Slovak
- Bárbara Portuguese, Spanish
- Varvara Czech, Serbian
- Варвара Russian, Ukrainian
- Barbera Dutch
- Barbra English
- Borbála Hungarian
- Bàrbara Catalan
- Bärbel German
Barbara name days
- December 4 France
- December 4 Latvia
- December 4 Norway
- December 4 Sweden
Source: Wikidata (CC0).
Storms named Barbara
Tropical storms, hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones that have been named Barbara, newest first.
| Storm | Year | Ocean | Peak wind |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hurricane Barbara (Category 1) | 2025 | Eastern Pacific | 120 km/h |
| Hurricane Barbara (Category 4) | 2019 | Eastern Pacific | 250 km/h |
| Hurricane Barbara (Category 1) | 2013 | Eastern Pacific | 130 km/h |
| Tropical storm Barbara | 2007 | Eastern Pacific | 83 km/h |
| Tropical storm Barbara | 2001 | Eastern Pacific | 93 km/h |
| Hurricane Barbara (Category 4) | 1995 | Eastern Pacific | 222 km/h |
| Hurricane Barbara (Category 1) | 1989 | Eastern Pacific | 130 km/h |
| Hurricane Barbara (Category 4) | 1983 | Eastern Pacific | 213 km/h |
| Tropical storm Barbara | 1976 | South Indian Ocean | – |
| Tropical storm Barbara | 1967 | South Pacific | – |
…and 4 earlier storms.
Source: IBTrACS, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. Peak wind is the highest sustained wind recorded for the storm.
Towns named Barbara
There are 639 towns and villages with Barbara in their name, in 32 countries.
🇲🇽 Mexico 182🇧🇷 Brazil 87🇨🇴 Colombia 73🇻🇪 Venezuela 60🇧🇴 Bolivia 32🇨🇺 Cuba 23🇮🇹 Italy 22🇵🇪 Peru 19
| Name | Where | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santa Barbara | California, 🇺🇸 United States | 91,842 | Map |
| Santa Bárbara | Barinas, 🇻🇪 Venezuela | 45,808 | Map |
| Santa Bárbara | Minas Gerais, 🇧🇷 Brazil | 30,466 | Map |
| Santa Bárbara | Bahia, 🇧🇷 Brazil | 20,952 | Map |
| Santa Bárbara | Suchitepeque, 🇬🇹 Guatemala | 17,172 | Map |
| Santa Barbara | Ilocos, 🇵🇭 Philippines | 15,445 | Map |
| Santa Bárbara | Santa Bárbara Department, 🇭🇳 Honduras | 15,119 | Map |
| Santa Bárbara | Biobio, 🇨🇱 Chile | 13,405 | Map |
| Santa Bárbara | Antioquia, 🇨🇴 Colombia | 12,743 | Map |
| Santa Bárbara | Chihuahua, 🇲🇽 Mexico | 8,765 | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Lakes named Barbara
There are 38 lakes and reservoirs with Barbara in their name, in 8 countries.
🇨🇦 Canada 11🇺🇸 United States 9🇻🇪 Venezuela 6🇧🇷 Brazil 5🇲🇽 Mexico 4🇧🇴 Bolivia 1🇨🇺 Cuba 1🇵🇪 Peru 1
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Barbara Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Barbara Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Barbara Lake | Ontario, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Barbara Lake | Manitoba, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Barbara Lake | Alberta, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Barbara Lake | British Columbia, 🇨🇦 Canada | Map |
| Barbara Lake | Florida, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Barbara Lake | Wyoming, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Barbara Lake | Alaska, 🇺🇸 United States | Map |
| Barragem Bárbara | Rio Grande do Sul, 🇧🇷 Brazil | Map |
Source: GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). Maps: OpenStreetMap.
Barbara songs
27 songs and musical works on Wikidata have Barbara in their title. The best known:
- Barbara Ann – The Regents (1961)
- Barbara Allen – Joan Baez
- Lady Barbara – Renato Brioschi (1970)
- Barbara (1948)
- Barbara Radziwiłłówna – Henryk Jarecki (1888)
- Barbara/The River (1970)
- Bye Bye Barbara
- La canzone di Barbara / Carlo Martello ritorna dalla battaglia di Poitiers – Fabrizio De André (1968)
- Please Don't Ask About Barbara – Bobby Vee (1962)
- BARBARA
Song data: Wikidata (CC0), ordered by how widely each song is covered on Wikipedia.
Celebrities named Barbara
Based on celebrities listed on Wikipedia, filtered to only those with the first name Barbara.
BarBara Luna
Barbara
Barbara Albert
Barbara Anderson
See more...
Fictional characters named Barbara
Characters from films and TV series, from Wikidata, ordered by how widely they are covered on Wikipedia.
Character data: Wikidata (CC0). Images: Wikimedia Commons; click an image for its author and licence.
Barbara as a pet name
FurryName has found 28 dogs named Barbara in public pet registers, making it the #4,607 dog name there. Most of them are registered in New York City (18), Playford (1), Vancouver (1). Barbara as a dog name →
Barbara products
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