Barrington
From the Old English "beorg" meaning hill and "tun" meaning settlement.
Name Census estimates that about 1,156 living Americans carry the first name Barrington. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Barrington today is around 37 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Barrington births was 1991 (43 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Barrington. 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 Barrington with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
1.2K
~ 1 in 296,500 Americans
Peak year
1991
43 babies that year
Average age
37
years old
2024 SSA rank
#8,364
Tracked since 1928
Census
Barrington in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,954 people with the first name Barrington, which placed it at #7,698 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
#7,698
National first-name rank
People counted
2.0K
1,954 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.6
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Black or African American
83.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Barrington
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barrington is Black at 83.9%. The next largest groups are White (7.7%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Barrington 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 Barrington at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Black or African American83.9% · 1,639
- White7.7% · 151
- Two or more races3.9% · 76
- Hispanic or Latino3.4% · 67
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.9% · 18
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.2% · 3
Popularity
Barrington: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Barrington from the 1920s through to the 2020s, spanning 11 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1990s, with 290 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1990s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Barrington 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 Barrington during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Barringtons live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. New York, Florida, California recorded the most babies named Barrington, while District of Columbia, California, Florida recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 65 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Barrington
The name Barrington is of English origin, derived from the Old English words "bær" meaning "grove" or "clearing" and "tun" meaning "settlement" or "enclosure." It is a locational name that originally referred to someone who lived near or came from a settlement or town called Barrington.
The earliest known record of the name Barrington can be traced back to the 11th century, shortly after the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. At that time, the name was spelled "Barentone" or "Barintone" and was associated with several places in England, including villages in Gloucestershire, Cambridgeshire, and Somerset.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Barrington was Sir Thomas de Barrington, who lived in the 13th century and served as a knight during the reign of King Henry III. He was granted lands in Gloucestershire and is considered a progenitor of the Barrington family in England.
Another notable figure with the name Barrington was John Shute Barrington, 1st Viscount Barrington, who was born in 1678 and served as a British politician and statesman during the 18th century. He held various positions in the government, including Secretary at War and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
In the 19th century, one of the most famous individuals with the name Barrington was Sir Jonah Barrington, an Irish lawyer, judge, and writer, who was born in 1760. He is best known for his memoir "Personal Sketches of His Own Times," which provides a valuable account of life in Ireland during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Another prominent figure with the name Barrington was Daines Barrington, an English naturalist, antiquary, and lawyer, who lived from 1727 to 1800. He made significant contributions to the study of natural history and was a co-founder of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
One of the earliest known Americans with the name Barrington was James Barrington, a British-born merchant who settled in Rhode Island in the late 17th century. He played a prominent role in the colony's affairs and served as a deputy to the General Assembly.
Throughout its history, the name Barrington has been associated with nobility, scholarship, and public service, reflecting the diverse backgrounds and accomplishments of those who have borne this name.
People
Barrington + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Barrington 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
Barrington: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Barrington?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,156 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Barrington 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 296,500 US residents.
Is Barrington a common name?
We classify Barrington as "Rare". It ranks above 91% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,269 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Barrington most popular?
The single biggest year for Barrington was 1991, when 43 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Barrington is about 37 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Barrington in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,954 people with the name Barrington, or 0.65 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #7,698 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 Barrington 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 Barrington?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Barrington appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,956 people counted with this name, 99.0% 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 Barrington?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Barrington is Black at 83.9%. The next largest groups are White (7.7%) and Two or More Races (3.9%). 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 Barrington most often in the Census?
Black is the largest reported group for people named Barrington in the 2020 Census, accounting for 83.9% (1,639 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 Barrington in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Barrington a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Barrington 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 Barrington still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Barrington 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 Barrington 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 named Barrington?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.