How rare is the name Barb?

11,289 people in the United States have the first name Barb, about 1 in 26,754. It ranks #2,293 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

BARB

#2,293

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
11,289
About
1 in 26,754
This common or more
79.3%
Who bears it

Of the 11,289 people named Barb, 94.3% reported their origin as White, 1.5% as two or more races and 1.5% as Black. Virtually all are female (99.6%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Barb peaked in 1960, when 493 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
19381972
Peak year
1960
Births that year
493
In 1972
9 ▼98%
Recorded as
almost entirely female

At least 3,853 babies have been given the name since 1938. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero.

Barb by decade

Among all names given to American babies, its best decade was the 1960s, when it ranked #1,203. The largest share of babies named Barb, 87.6%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).

1930s#11,2936
1940s#3,374201
1950s#1,3811,460
1960s#1,2032,140
1970s#12,39146
Silent Generation 1928–452.1%
Baby boom 1946–6487.6%
Generation X 1965–8010.3%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Barb is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Barb has been most common in Minnesota (7.7×), South Dakota (5.5×), and Wisconsin (5×), and least common in New York (0.49×).

3,167 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Barb

#2,291 Lizeth · 11,294#2,292 Annabel · 11,292#2,294 Amit · 11,285#2,294 Ronny · 11,285

Spelled almost the same

3 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Barb, most common first.

#17,521 Barbi · 628#25,713 Barba · 367#35,338 Barby · 228

Also a last name

As a last name, Barb ranks #16,783 of 156,621, with 1,655 people. See Barb as a last name

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