Barbar
A masculine name of Arabic origin meaning "barbarian" or "outsider".
Name Census estimates that about 212 living Americans carry the first name Barbar. The name is used almost exclusively for girls. The average person named Barbar today is around 67 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Barbar births was 1959 (16 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Barbar. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Barbar is about 67 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Barbars were born before 1969.
People living today
212
~ 1 in 1,616,766 Americans
Peak year
1959
16 babies that year
Average age
67
years old
1981 SSA rank
#10,568
Tracked since 1928
Census
Barbar in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,330 people with the first name Barbar, which placed it at #10,142 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#10,142
National first-name rank
People counted
1.3K
1,330 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
75.7% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Barbar
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barbar is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Barbar described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Barbar at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White75.7% · 1,007
- Black or African American17.4% · 232
- Hispanic or Latino3.3% · 44
- Two or more races1.7% · 22
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.2% · 16
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.7% · 9
Popularity
Barbar: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Barbar from the 1920s through to the 1980s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 109 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Barbar by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Barbar during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Barbar
The given name Barbar has its origins tracing back to ancient Mesopotamia, specifically the Akkadian language of the Sumerian civilization, which flourished in the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers around 3500-2350 BCE. The name is derived from the Akkadian word "barbaru," meaning "wolf" or "wolf-like."
In ancient Sumerian mythology, the wolf was often associated with strength, courage, and fierceness, qualities that were highly revered in that warrior culture. As such, parents may have chosen to name their children Barbar as a symbolic gesture, hoping to imbue them with these desirable traits.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Barbar can be found in the Sumerian King List, an ancient manuscript that chronicles the rulers of various Sumerian city-states. The text mentions a King Barbar of Kish, who is said to have reigned for an impressive 900 years, although this figure is likely symbolic or exaggerated.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Barbar. In the 7th century BCE, Barbar was a prominent Assyrian prince and military commander who served under King Ashurbanipal. His exploits are recorded in the Assyrian royal annals, which detail his victories in battles against various enemies of the Assyrian Empire.
In the medieval period, Barbar al-Baghdadi (1080-1165) was a renowned Islamic scholar and philosopher from Baghdad. He made significant contributions to the fields of logic, metaphysics, and ethics, and his works were widely studied and influential throughout the Islamic world.
During the Renaissance, Barbar Brassicanus (1472-1539) was a German humanist scholar and educator. He was a prolific writer and translator, known for his Latin translations of ancient Greek texts and his contributions to the study of classical literature.
In more recent times, Barbar Khan (1916-1988) was a celebrated Pakistani classical singer and musician. He was widely regarded as a master of the khayal style of Hindustani classical music and was awarded the prestigious Pride of Performance award by the Pakistani government in recognition of his artistic achievements.
These are just a few examples of the many individuals throughout history who have borne the name Barbar, a name that has its roots in the ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia and carries connotations of strength, courage, and fierceness.
People
Barbar + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Barbar as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Barbar: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Barbar?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 212 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Barbar going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,616,766 US residents.
Is Barbar a common name?
We classify Barbar as "Very Rare". It ranks above 75% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 316 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Barbar most popular?
The single biggest year for Barbar was 1959, when 16 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Barbar is about 67 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Barbar in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,330 people with the name Barbar, or 0.44 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #10,142 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Barbar in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Barbar?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Barbar leans strongly female. 1,310 people counted with this name were female (98.9%), compared with 15 male bearers (1.1%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Barbar?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barbar is White at 75.7%. The next largest groups are Black (17.4%) and Hispanic (3.3%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Barbar most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Barbar in the 2020 Census, accounting for 75.7% (1,007 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Barbar in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Barbar a female name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Barbar in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Barbar still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Barbar in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Barbar can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are called Barbar?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.