Barnet
English habitational name transferred from Barnet in Hertfordshire.
Name Census estimates that about 56 living Americans carry the first name Barnet. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Barnet today is around 80 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Barnet births was 1916 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Barnet. 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 Barnet is about 80 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Barnets were born before 1956.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Barnet. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
56
~ 1 in 6,120,613 Americans
Peak year
1916
15 babies that year
Average age
80
years old
1954 SSA rank
#3,866
Tracked since 1898
Popularity
Barnet: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Barnet from the 1890s through to the 1950s, spanning 6 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 86 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 1910s peak, Barnet remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Barnet 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 Barnet during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Barnets live
Origin
Meaning and history of Barnet
The name Barnet originates from the Old English language and dates back to the Anglo-Saxon period in Britain, around the 5th to 11th centuries CE. It is derived from the Old English words "bearn" meaning "child" and "neat" meaning "cattle" or "ox". Thus, the name Barnet likely referred to someone who tended cattle or oxen, particularly a herdsman or a farmer's child.
One of the earliest recorded instances of the name Barnet can be found in the Domesday Book, a comprehensive survey of landholdings and resources in England commissioned by William the Conqueror in 1086. The name appears as "Barnett" in this historical record, indicating its use during the Norman period.
In medieval times, the name Barnet was particularly prevalent in the counties of Hertfordshire and Middlesex, where it was associated with several notable individuals. One such person was Barnet of Cheshunt, a 13th-century landholder and benefactor who contributed to the construction of a church in the town of Cheshunt, Hertfordshire.
The name Barnet has also been linked to various religious figures throughout history. Saint Barnett, a 7th-century Benedictine monk and abbot, was known for his piety and charitable works in the region of Burgundy, France. Additionally, there was a notable Barnet Smith, a 16th-century Protestant martyr who was burned at the stake for his beliefs during the reign of Queen Mary I of England.
Prominent historical figures who bore the name Barnet include Barnet Holcroft (1629-1685), an English actor and playwright known for his controversial works during the Restoration period. Another notable individual was Barnet Lintot (1675-1736), a renowned English publisher who worked with literary giants such as Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift.
Sir Barnet Frere (1762-1841) was a distinguished British diplomat and statesman who served as the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire. He played a crucial role in negotiating the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, which marked the end of the Russo-Turkish War.
Finally, Barnet Hyman Isaacs (1824-1912) was a prominent British businessman and philanthropist who co-founded the Golders Green Synagogue in London and supported numerous charitable causes throughout his lifetime.
People
Barnet + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Barnet 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
Barnet: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Barnet?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 56 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Barnet 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 6,120,613 US residents.
Is Barnet a common name?
We classify Barnet as "Very Rare". It ranks above 56% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 221 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Barnet most popular?
The single biggest year for Barnet was 1916, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Barnet is about 80 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Barnet a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Barnet 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.
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.