Barbara
Greek barbaros, “foreign” — literally someone whose speech sounds like babble.
Popularity, 1880–2025
Saint Barbara made it a devotional classic; for decades at midcentury it sat just behind Mary as America's runner-up name.
Barbara appears in the national records from the very first year, 1880. It has ranked among the top 100 names for American girls in every year from 1913 to 1976. It spent 32 years inside the top 10. Its biggest year was 1947, when 48,800 newborn girls received the name, ranking it No. 4 nationally. Its best ranking came in 1937, at No. 2. In 2025 it ranked No. 968 for girls. All told, 1,440,831 Americans have been given the name since 1880.
Related names
Other spellings on record: Barbra (7,758) (total births since 1880)
Explore Barbara interactively →By the decade
| Decade | Births | Best rank |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 1,820 | No. 123 |
| 1890s | 2,783 | No. 145 |
| 1900s | 3,999 | No. 126 |
| 1910s | 23,704 | No. 60 |
| 1920s | 97,210 | No. 7 |
| 1930s | 296,420 | No. 2 |
| 1940s | 425,271 | No. 2 |
| 1950s | 345,722 | No. 4 |
| 1960s | 159,773 | No. 12 |
| 1970s | 42,237 | No. 41 |
| 1980s | 19,139 | No. 119 |
| 1990s | 8,859 | No. 207 |
| 2000s | 4,730 | No. 505 |
| 2010s | 3,263 | No. 692 |
| 2020s | 1,765 | No. 852 |
Births and rank shown for girls, the sex more often given the name. The Social Security Administration omits name–year combinations with fewer than five births.
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Data: U.S. Social Security Administration national baby-name file, 1880–2025.