Barnabas
Son of consolation, of Hebrew origin, meaning "encourager".
Name Census estimates that about 545 living Americans carry the first name Barnabas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Barnabas today is around 26 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Barnabas births was 2017 (24 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Barnabas. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Barnabas with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
545
~ 1 in 628,907 Americans
Peak year
2017
24 babies that year
Average age
26
years old
2024 SSA rank
#4,571
Tracked since 1920
Census
Barnabas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 709 people with the first name Barnabas, which placed it at #16,031 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
#16,031
National first-name rank
People counted
709
709 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
40.1% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Barnabas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barnabas is White at 40.1%. The next largest groups are Black (37.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (15.1%). 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 Barnabas 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 Barnabas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White40.1% · 284
- Black or African American37.0% · 262
- Asian and Pacific Islander15.1% · 107
- Two or more races3.9% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino3.7% · 26
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 2
Popularity
Barnabas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Barnabas from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 10 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 136 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Barnabas remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Barnabas 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 Barnabas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Barnabas' live
Origin
Meaning and history of Barnabas
The name Barnabas has its origins in the Aramaic language, which was widely spoken in ancient times throughout the Middle East and parts of the Mediterranean region. It is believed to have derived from the Aramaic phrase "bar neḥmah," meaning "son of consolation" or "son of encouragement."
In the New Testament of the Bible, Barnabas was the given name of a prominent early Christian disciple and missionary companion of the apostle Paul. His original Hebrew name was Joseph, but he was given the additional name Barnabas by the apostles, as mentioned in the Book of Acts.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Barnabas can be found in the apocryphal work known as the Epistle of Barnabas, which is attributed to the biblical figure of the same name. This work, dated to the late 1st or early 2nd century AD, provides insights into early Christian theology and practices.
Throughout history, several notable individuals have borne the name Barnabas. One of the most famous was Barnabas of Alexandria, also known as Barnabas the Apostolic Father, who lived in the 1st century AD and is considered one of the Apostolic Fathers of the early Christian Church.
Another prominent figure was Saint Barnabas the Apostle, who lived in the 1st century AD and is venerated as one of the first Christians to preach the gospel outside of Judea. He is recognized as a saint in various Christian traditions, including the Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican churches.
In the 9th century, Barnabas the Hermit, also known as Saint Barnabas of Terni, was a renowned Italian hermit and monk who founded several monasteries in central Italy.
During the Renaissance period, Barnabas Manasseh ben Joseph, a Jewish author and printer, lived in the 16th century and is known for his works on Jewish history and theology.
In more recent times, Barnabas Bates (1784-1858) was an American Baptist minister and educator who served as the president of Middlebury College in Vermont.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals throughout history who have borne the name Barnabas, which has its roots in the ancient Aramaic language and is closely tied to early Christian history and tradition.
People
Barnabas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Barnabas 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
Barnabas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Barnabas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 545 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Barnabas 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 628,907 US residents.
Is Barnabas a common name?
We classify Barnabas as "Very Rare". It ranks above 85.4% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 575 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Barnabas most popular?
The single biggest year for Barnabas was 2017, when 24 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Barnabas is about 26 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Barnabas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 709 people with the name Barnabas, or 0.23 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #16,031 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 Barnabas 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 Barnabas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Barnabas appears almost entirely male. Of the 711 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female. 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 Barnabas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barnabas is White at 40.1%. The next largest groups are Black (37.0%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (15.1%). 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 Barnabas most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Barnabas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 40.1% (284 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 Barnabas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Barnabas a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Barnabas 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 Barnabas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Barnabas 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 Barnabas 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 Barnabas?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.