Barry
Masculine · “fair-headed”
Barry is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 181,270 boys against 766 girls since 1880. See Barry as a girl name
Barry is recorded for boys and girls alike and comes from Ireland, where it is the tail of a longer name belonging to the saint who founded Cork. It is also one letter from a word that English uses for two entirely unrelated things.
How old is the name Barry?
Barry first appears in US birth records in 1883 — 142 years ago. The typical Barry alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 131,000 people named Barry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Barry most popular?
Barry peaked in 1962, reaching #61 nationally. Today it ranks #1520, 1,459 places below that high. See the whole 1962 chart.
Where it comes from
From Fionnbharr to Barry
The story of Barry
Finbarr is the patron of Cork and is said to have founded a monastery and school there on marshy ground beside the river, which is why the city's motto and seal refer to a place where ships come. The school drew students from across Ireland and beyond, and the city grew around it. His name is a description rather than a reference: the fair-haired one. Meanwhile the English word barrow does duty for two separate things. A burial barrow is an Old English word for a hill or mound; a wheelbarrow is a completely different Old English word, related to bear, meaning a thing carried. They converged in spelling and have nothing to do with each other.
Meaning
fair-headed
The Irish name behind it, Fionnbharr, joins an element meaning fair or bright to one meaning head or hair. The reading is settled, and Barry is the last syllable of it used alone.
How the name formed
- Fionnbharr
- Barra
- Barry
Related forms: Barra
Pronouncing Barry
BARR-ee
Two syllables with the stress in front. There is nothing in it to get wrong.
Nicknames for Barry
Limited
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
- 1883
- Most boys named
- 19635,953 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #61reached in 1962
- Change vs 2022
- −8.1%114 in 2025, from 124
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.
Barry in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Barra in Irish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York.
Barrys among us
people named Barry are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 14,983 born in 2025 was named Barry
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 Gene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Barry's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Gene climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Gene's path sketches the road Barry is walking now.
Barry 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 Barry is headed
Barry should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
Medium 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.
Barry beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Barry in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is read correctly at first sight and never needs spelling out loud.
- The meaning is settled and can be given in two words.
- It has an unbroken American record going back to the beginning of the statistics.
- In America it reads as belonging to an older generation, which is either the appeal or the obstacle.
- This spelling goes overwhelmingly to boys but is recorded for girls as well, so a form will occasionally guess wrong.
- It is close enough to Berry and Barrie to be written as either from speech.
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What they receive
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Barry
Masculine · #1520 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Barrys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 131,000 people named Barry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Barry in 2025?
- Barry ranks #1520 among US boy names in 2025, with 114 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Barry?
- About 1 in every 14,983 US boys born in 2025 was named Barry — 114 in all.
- Will my child share the name Barry with classmates?
- Barry will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Barry
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Zakaria#1520 · Montana#1520 · Karmelo#1520 · Summit#1520 · Maxim#1520 · Kallum#1520 · Tymir#1520 · Gilberto#1520
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Barry? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Barry and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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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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