Barb
given name · Latin script
Meaning: The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted
Recorded as a female name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise
/bɑɹb/(machine-generated) pronunciation, model-generated
Barb is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in China than in any other country. In Antigua & Barbuda it is the 73rd most common given name.
- CACanada≈1 in 3.6K(inferred from the name graph)
- AUAustralia≈1 in 17K
- USUnited States1 in 29K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- China (inferred from the name graph)
- Sources
- 425 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 3.6K (inferred from the name graph)
≈54,000 people, est.
Highest-authority source
Canada, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin(measured from records)
The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else.
Sources 1
- kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
Attested across 16 languages in the etymology graph.
Where in the world(measured from records)
Barb counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CN China | — | ≈54,000 est. | ≈1 in 26K | — | Barb | 3 |
| US United States | — | 11,289 | 1 in 29K | 11K | Barb | 425 |
| CA Canada | #450 | ≈10,000 est. | ≈1 in 3.6K | — | Barb | 188 |
| GB United Kingdom | — | ≈1,600 est. | ≈1 in 40K | listed | Barb | 106 |
| KP North Korea | — | ≈1,500 est. | ≈1 in 17K | — | Barb | 2 |
| AU Australia | — | ≈1,500 est. | ≈1 in 17K | — | Barb | 123 |
| HU Hungary | — | ≈470 est. | ≈1 in 21K | — | Barb | 5 |
| AG Antigua & Barbuda | #73 | ≈17 est. | ≈1 in 5.8K | — | Barb | 2 |
Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; the penguin-baby-names-2009 register. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses(measured from records)
Barb is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In Romanian, iNTA subst. (= berbtrita, berbenita) un fel de putinica, in vechime numele unui impozit. 1. Barbanfa b. (lsp IV) ; loan din Berbinceni (17 A IV 146) ; Barbfnfa, Dr. (17 A II 239). 2. + barbuneu : Bdrbunfa t. 3. Barbanfanu, Preda (AO V 209). Barbunla v. BarbInt a 2.
as a nameDictionar Onomastic Rominesc
In German, weibl. Vom., Kurzform von
as a nameDUDEN Lexikon der Vornamen
In Catalan, barbel (freshwater fish of the genus Barbus)
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In gv, sharp, drastic
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In Breton, barbes, aiguilles (de pin...)
as a wordDeshayes, Dictionnaire étymologique du breton (2003)
Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.
Notable people with this name(measured from records)
- Barb Goodwinb. 1949USAmerican politician
- Barb Jungrb. 1954GBUK singer, songwriter and writer
- Barb Yarussob. 1956USAmerican politician
- Barb Bunkowskyb. 1958USprofessional golfer
- Barb Tarboxb. 1961CAAnti-smoking advocate (1961-2003)
- Barb Whiteheadb. 1961USprofessional golfer
- Barb Hendeeb. 1963USAmerican writer
- Barb Morrisonb. 1967USAmerican singer and songwriter
- Barbara Byrumb. 1977USnot in their usual nameAmerican politician
- Barb Honchakb. 1979USAmerican martial artist
The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).
How to address them(machine-generated)
A formal English salutation is built on the surname, so it needs a full name — on its own, a first name only supports the informal form.
Evidence(measured from records)
Attested in 25 sources across 15 countries.
| Country | Register | Year | Count | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex | 2020 | 11K | #2,293 |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1960 | 493 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1959 | 464 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1961 | 452 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1958 | 440 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1962 | 351 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1957 | 290 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1963 | 267 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1964 | 225 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1965 | 149 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1956 | 128 | — |
| US United States | SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) | 1966 | 78 | — |
Reference works 3
- Nederlandse FamilienamenBank (Dutch surname bank; ex-Meertens Instituut, now CBG)2007
- Wikipedia given-name tokens
- Wikidata name items (native-script + romanized given/family names)
These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does the name Barb come from?
- The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted. Hence: Anything which stands out with a sharp point obliquely or crosswise to something else. Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
- What are other forms of the name Barb?
- In the etymology graph, Bobbie, Bobbi and Barbie are forms of the same name in other languages; it is recorded as a short form of Barbara.
- How do you pronounce Barb?
- A machine transcription gives /bɑɹb/ (IPA) for English.
- What does the name Barb mean?
- Recorded meaning: The point that stands backward in an arrow, fishhook, etc., to prevent it from being easily extracted.
- Is Barb a male or female name?
- Barb is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
- In which country does Barb have the most bearers?
- Mondonomo estimates about 54 thousand people named Barb in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled barb.
- How common is the name Barb?
- In the United States, the national register counted 11,289 people named Barb in 2020, about 1 in 29 thousand residents.
- How common is Barb compared with other names?
- In Antigua & Barbuda, Barb is the 73rd most common given name of 3,327 given names recorded there.
What do you want to know about Barb?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/barbThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Barb” — the 73rd most common given name in Antigua & Barbuda. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.