Bary
A masculine name of Persian origin meaning "winner" or "conqueror".
Name Census estimates that about 230 living Americans carry the first name Bary. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Bary today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Bary births was 1961 (15 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Bary. 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 Bary is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Barys were born before 1970.
People living today
230
~ 1 in 1,490,236 Americans
Peak year
1961
15 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
1982 SSA rank
#5,695
Tracked since 1942
Census
Bary in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 414 people with the first name Bary, which placed it at #23,579 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
#23,579
National first-name rank
People counted
414
414 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
80.4% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Bary
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bary is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Bary 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 Bary at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White80.4% · 333
- Black or African American6.5% · 27
- Hispanic or Latino5.8% · 24
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.1% · 17
- Two or more races2.4% · 10
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.7% · 3
Popularity
Bary: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Bary from the 1940s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 100 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1960s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Bary 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 Bary 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 Bary
The name Bary has its origins in the Middle Eastern region, with roots that can be traced back to the ancient Aramaic language. The word "bar" in Aramaic meant "son" or "child," and it was commonly used as a prefix in personal names. It is believed that the name Bary emerged as a variation of names like Baryah or Bariah, which were derived from this Aramaic root.
During the early centuries of the Common Era, the name Bary gained prominence in various Semitic communities across the Middle East. It was particularly popular among Jewish and Christian populations, as evidenced by references in historical texts and religious manuscripts from that period. One notable example is the Babylonian Talmud, a central text of Rabbinic Judaism, which mentions individuals with names similar to Bary.
The earliest recorded instances of the name Bary can be found in ancient inscriptions and papyrus documents from the Byzantine Empire and the Levant region. These records date back to the 4th and 5th centuries CE, indicating the name's widespread use during that time. Among the notable historical figures bearing the name Bary was a Byzantine scholar and theologian, Bary of Edessa, who lived in the late 5th century.
In the medieval period, the name Bary continued to be prevalent among various ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East and North Africa. One notable figure was Bary al-Ibadi, a scholar and poet from the 9th century who hailed from present-day Yemen. His works have been preserved and studied by Arabic literature scholars.
As the Islamic empires expanded, the name Bary also found its way into other regions, including parts of Europe and Central Asia. In the 12th century, there was a Sufi mystic and philosopher from Persia named Bary al-Din, whose teachings and writings had a significant impact on Islamic spirituality.
During the Renaissance period, the name Bary gained some prominence in Europe, particularly in the Ottoman Empire and its territories. One notable figure was Bary Mehmed Pasha, a 16th-century Ottoman statesman and military leader who played a crucial role in the expansion of the empire's territories.
Throughout history, the name Bary has been shared by individuals from diverse backgrounds and professions, including scholars, poets, religious figures, and statesmen. While its origins can be traced back to the ancient Aramaic language, the name has transcended cultural and geographical boundaries, becoming a part of various traditions and histories across multiple regions.
People
Bary + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Bary 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
Bary: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Bary?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 230 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Bary 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 1,490,236 US residents.
Is Bary a common name?
We classify Bary as "Very Rare". It ranks above 76% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 299 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Bary most popular?
The single biggest year for Bary was 1961, when 15 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Bary is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Bary in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 414 people with the name Bary, or 0.14 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #23,579 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 Bary 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 Bary?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Bary leans strongly male. 394 people counted with this name were male (95.2%), compared with 20 female bearers (4.8%). 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 Bary?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Bary is White at 80.4%. The next largest groups are Black (6.5%) and Hispanic (5.8%). 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 Bary most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Bary in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.4% (333 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 Bary in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Bary a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Bary 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 Bary still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Bary 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 Bary 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 have the name Bary?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.