Girl name#8 of girl names
Barbara
Pronounced B AA1 R B ER0 AH0 (ARPABET)
- 2 syllables
- Peaked 1947
- 145 years in use
How popular is Barbara?
Barbara is a girls' name, and has been in the record since the data starts in 1880. It has been given to 1,448,509 children — the 8th most common girls' name on record.
It has been slipping, down 27% on the previous decade. Its best single year was 1947, when 48,924 children were given it.
Characteristics
- Alliterative
- 2 syllables
Phonetic detail
- Pronunciations:
- B AA1 R B ER0 AH0 · B AA1 R B R AH0
- Stress pattern:
- 100 · 10
- Syllables:
- 2
Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.
Names like Barbara
Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.
Sibling names for Barbara
Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.
Frequently asked questions
- How popular is the name Barbara?
- Barbara ranks 8th among girls' names in US records, with 1,448,509 births since 1880. Over the past decade it accounts for 3,035.
- Is Barbara a unisex name?
- No. Barbara is recorded almost entirely as a girls' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
- When was Barbara most popular?
- 1947, when 48,924 children were given the name. It has been in use for 145 years and is still recorded as of 2024.