Barbie
Feminine · “foreign”
Barbie is a short form of Barbara, and the Greek behind it is unflattering — barbaros meant someone whose speech sounded like nonsense.
How old is the name Barbie?
Barbie first appears in US birth records in 1936 — 89 years ago. The typical Barbie alive today was born around 1971, making them about 54 years old. About 3,900 people named Barbie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Barbie most popular?
Barbie peaked in 1964, reaching #756 nationally. Today it ranks #4265, 3,509 places below that high. See the whole 1964 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From barbaros to Barbie
The story of Barbie
Barbaros is onomatopoeic: to Greek ears foreign speech sounded like bar-bar, and the word named non-Greeks without necessarily insulting them at first. Saint Barbara was an early martyr with an enormous medieval cult, patron of miners and artillerymen. Barbie was a standard household form and was well used in American records; a doll launched in 1959 has since taken the name almost entirely.
Meaning
foreign, stranger
From Greek barbaros, foreign; the word imitates unintelligible speech — bar-bar — and named anyone who did not speak Greek. Barbara is the feminine, and English barbarian comes from the same word.
How the name formed
- barbaros
- Barbara
- Barbie
Related forms: Barbara · Bárbara · Borbála
Pronouncing Barbie
BAR-bee
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation in English.
Nicknames for Barbie
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1936
- Most girls named
- 1964190 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #756reached in 1964
- Change vs 2023
- −2.9%33 in 2025, from 34
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Barbie in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Barbara in English — related form
- Bárbara in Spanish — related form
- Borbála in Hungarian — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Pennsylvania, Kentucky.
Barbies among us
people named Barbie are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 48,705 born in 2025 was named Barbie
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Marylee test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Barbie's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Marylee climbed just as high around 1941, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Marylee's path sketches the road Barbie is walking now.
Barbie sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Barbie is headed
Barbie looks set to keep climbing gently, with roughly 24% more babies a year by 2030 if the current curve holds. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Barbie beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Barbie in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled Greek meaning with a genuinely interesting onomatopoeic origin.
- Barbara stands behind it as a fuller formal option.
- Warm and immediately friendly in sound.
- The doll is an overwhelming association and has been for two generations.
- It reads as a nickname, which may matter on a formal document.
- The meaning is foreigner, which needs a sentence of explanation.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Barbie
Feminine · #4265 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Barbies are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 3,900 people named Barbie are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Barbie in 2025?
- Barbie ranks #4265 among US girl names in 2025, with 33 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Barbie?
- About 1 in every 48,705 US girls born in 2025 was named Barbie — 33 in all.
- Will my child share the name Barbie with classmates?
- Barbie will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Barbie
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Hyacinth#4265 · Halina#4265 · Michal#4265 · Sadia#4265 · Zahava#4265 · Maiah#4265 · Daysi#4265 · Corrie#4265
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Barbie? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Barbie and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
Compare side by sideIn a hurry? Just pick a winner — one tap, no sign-up, and you see how everyone else voted.
Weighing a whole shortlist? Add the rest in the builder, or settle it with a bracket.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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