Barett
A masculine name derived from an English surname meaning "strong as a bear".
Name Census estimates that about 175 living Americans carry the first name Barett. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Barett today is around 19 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Barett births was 2021 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Barett. 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.
People living today
175
~ 1 in 1,958,596 Americans
Peak year
2021
10 babies that year
Average age
19
years old
2023 SSA rank
#10,980
Tracked since 1978
Census
Barett in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 237 people with the first name Barett, which placed it at #34,427 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
#34,427
National first-name rank
People counted
237
237 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
83.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Barett
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barett is White at 83.5%. The next largest groups are Black (5.5%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Barett 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 Barett at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White83.5% · 198
- Black or African American5.5% · 13
- Two or more races4.6% · 11
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 8
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.7% · 4
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.3% · 3
Popularity
Barett: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Barett from the 1970s through to the 2020s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 71 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Barett remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Barett 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 Barett 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 Barett
The name Barett has its origins in the Old English language, originating from the Germanic root "bar," meaning "bear." This root was often used as a prefix in personal names to signify strength, courage, and formidability. The name itself is believed to have emerged during the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, sometime between the 5th and 11th centuries.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Barett can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and wealth in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears in various spellings, such as "Baret" and "Barret," suggesting its widespread use among the Anglo-Saxon population at the time.
During the Middle Ages, the name Barett gained prominence in various parts of Europe. In England, Sir Barett de Leybourne, a notable English knight and landowner, lived during the late 13th century. He played a significant role in the Welsh Wars under King Edward I and was present at the siege of Caerphilly Castle in 1271.
In Italy, Barett Alighieri, the son of the renowned poet Dante Alighieri, was born in 1291. He pursued a career in law and served as a judge in various Italian cities, including Verona and Treviso.
Another prominent figure bearing the name Barett was Barett Brawern, a Dutch artist and engraver who lived in the late 16th century. His intricate engravings and etchings depicting religious and allegorical scenes were highly regarded during the Dutch Golden Age.
In the 17th century, Barett van der Neer, a Dutch Golden Age painter, gained recognition for his masterful depictions of moonlit landscapes and nocturnal scenes. Born in 1603, his works were highly influential and sought after by collectors across Europe.
One of the most notable individuals with the name Barett was Barett Browning, the renowned English poet and playwright. Born in 1806, she is best known for her literary masterpieces, including "Sonnets from the Portuguese" and the epic poem "Aurora Leigh." Browning's poetic works explored themes of love, feminism, and social issues, cementing her place as one of the most influential poets of the Victorian era.
People
Barett + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Barett 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
Barett: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Barett?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 175 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Barett 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 1,958,596 US residents.
Is Barett a common name?
We classify Barett as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 178 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Barett most popular?
The single biggest year for Barett was 2021, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Barett is about 19 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Barett in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 237 people with the name Barett, or 0.08 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #34,427 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 Barett 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 Barett?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Barett leans strongly male. 215 people counted with this name were male (93.5%), compared with 15 female bearers (6.5%). 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 Barett?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barett is White at 83.5%. The next largest groups are Black (5.5%) and Two or More Races (4.6%). 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 Barett most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Barett in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.5% (198 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 Barett in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Barett a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Barett in the SSA data are male. 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 Barett still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Barett 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 Barett 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 Americans are named Barett?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.