Barney
Pronounced B AA1 R N IY0 (ARPABET)
- 2 syllables
- Peaked 1919
- 145 years in use
- 1 spelling
How popular is Barney?
Barney is a boys' name, and has been in the record since the data starts in 1880. It has been given to 16,181 children — the 849th most common boys' name on record.
It is still recorded, but barely: 30 births across the past decade, against a peak of 304 in a single year. That peak was in 1919.
Barny is counted with it here, since the two are pronounced identically.
Spelling variants
These spellings sound identical to Barney and are counted together with it, which is why the totals here are higher than a single-spelling count.
- Barny
Nicknames
Barney is itself a short form of Bernard.
Characteristics
- 2 syllables
Phonetic detail
- Pronunciations:
- B AA1 R N IY0
- Stress pattern:
- 10
- Syllables:
- 2
Stress digits mark unstressed (0), primary (1) and secondary (2) syllables.
Names like Barney
Same first letter and syllable count, peaking around the same time.
Sibling names for Barney
Names from the same era with a matching rhythm but a different initial.
Frequently asked questions
- How popular is the name Barney?
- Barney ranks 849th among boys' names in US records, with 16,181 births since 1880. Over the past decade it accounts for 30.
- Is Barney a unisex name?
- No. Barney is recorded almost entirely as a boys' name; births to the other gender are too few to register as a share.
- When was Barney most popular?
- 1919, when 304 children were given the name. It has been in use for 145 years and is still recorded as of 2024.
- How else is Barney spelled?
- Barny. All of these sound the same and are counted together in the totals on this page.