Fun Facts About the Name Barba
- 208 babies named Barba: U.S. records list 208 babies given the name Barba from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Barba Mean?
Barba is the Latin word for "beard," written barba, and it kept that meaning in Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, where barba still means a beard. The Latin noun belongs to an old Indo-European set of words for the beard, among them English beard, Russian boroda, and Lithuanian barzda. As a personal name it usually carries that literal sense: a byname for a bearded man that hardened into a family name in Italy, Spain, and Portugal.
Used as a feminine first name in Iceland and the Faroe Islands, Barba is generally explained instead as a short form of Barbara, a name of Greek origin from barbaros, "foreign, non-Greek-speaking." That is a separate origin that happens to look identical to the Romance word for "beard."
Barba Name History & Origins
Because barba was the ordinary word for a beard in Latin and in the languages that descended from it, it served in medieval Italy, Spain, and Portugal as a descriptive byname - a way of telling one man from another in records that often gave only a first name and a place. Nicknames of this kind gradually became fixed, inherited surnames, so Barba is found today chiefly as a family name in those countries and in places their emigrants settled. It is one of many surnames built on personal appearance rather than the only one descended from the word, and it should not be treated as the ancestor of every similar-looking name.
As a first name, Barba is uncommon. The feminine use in Iceland and the Faroe Islands fits a Nordic pattern of trimming longer Christian names into short two-syllable forms; the longer name behind it is Barbara, whose veneration spread through medieval Europe. This Nordic given name developed independently of the Romance surname.
A recent fictional bearer of the surname is Rafael Barba, a prosecutor in the American television series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit - a modern literary use, not an early record of the name.
How Popular is the Name Barba?
Barba has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 1944. Its best rank was #2,524 in 1944.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | #5,324 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1964 | #6,060 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1962 | #6,649 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1960 | #4,463 | 9 | 0.0004% |
| 1959 | #6,312 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1958 | #5,449 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1957 | #4,222 | 9 | 0.0004% |
| 1955 | #5,885 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1954 | #5,804 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1952 | #4,957 | 6 | 0.0003% |
| 1950 | #3,982 | 8 | 0.0005% |
| 1948 | #4,228 | 7 | 0.0004% |
| 1947 | #3,464 | 10 | 0.0006% |
| 1946 | #5,005 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1945 | #2,932 | 10 | 0.0008% |
| 1944 | #2,524 | 13 | 0.0010% |
| 1943 | #3,266 | 9 | 0.0006% |
| 1942 | #3,471 | 8 | 0.0006% |
| 1939 | #3,458 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1938 | #2,598 | 11 | 0.0010% |
| 1937 | #3,170 | 8 | 0.0008% |
| 1936 | #4,243 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1935 | #4,270 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1932 | #3,065 | 9 | 0.0008% |
| 1931 | #4,388 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1930 | #3,379 | 8 | 0.0007% |
| 1928 | #3,784 | 7 | 0.0006% |
| 1927 | #4,872 | 5 | 0.0004% |
| 1920 | #5,055 | 5 | 0.0004% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
Most Popular Girl Names That Start with B
Short Girl Names That Start with B
How the Name Barba Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You can go to great heights and equally great depths. You are emotional and fixed in your opinions. You are hospitable, sentimental, often psychic, sometimes moody. You are ruled by love and the lack of it and feel a need to be encouraged and appreciated. You are bold, independent, inquisitive and interested in research. You know what you want and why you want it.
You find the best contentment in life when you own your own home and provide well for your family and loved ones. You have a great sense of responsibility and duty. You are comforting, appreciative and affectionate. Your obligation in life is to hold justice and truth, and if you follow the Law, you can find the great happiness and satisfaction.
✦ Barba's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Barba's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.