Boy · English pet form
Barney
Say it: BAR-nee
Meaning
A pet form of Barnabas (explained in Acts as 'son of encouragement') or of Bernard (Germanic bern 'bear' and hard 'hard').
Uncertainseveral explanations, none settled.
Used in the US in the late 1800s.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1880s
In the United States
- 16,167 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1884, about 1 in 1,800 boys
- 5 babies in 2020
Through the ages
Used by
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- National census records of the 19th and 20th centuries
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.