Barbe

Girls' name

Strange, foreign, through Barbara

Barbe has been given to 36 babies in the U.S. since 1952. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1952, with 12 recorded.

Babies named Barbe, 1961

1 in 690,000

Barbe over time, 1880–2025

Girls

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Barbe: meaning, origin, and history

Strange, foreign, through Barbara

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Barbe means

Barbe belongs to the name family reached through Barbe → Barbara. Its meaning is “strange, foreign”.

Origin, language, and formation

Barbe is used in French.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Barbara.

Pronunciation and spelling

In French, Barbe is pronounced /baʁb/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 36 girls were recorded with the name Barbe between 1952 and 1961. Its highest annual count was 12 in 1952; its best national rank was #3,214 in 1952.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Barbe?

Barbe had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1961, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1961: 1 in 690,000; 6 of 4,142,426 births
Among girls only: 1 in 336,000; <0.01% of girls
Rank, 1961: Unranked; Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size: 478,553 kids; Even odds of a second one

Where Barbe sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1961 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%

Class of 30Under 1%

Grade of 100Under 1%

School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 478,553 children born in 1961 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Barbe. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Barbes were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Barbe was born before 1953 — so the typical Barbe is around 72 today.

Median birth year: 1953; About 72 years old
Biggest decade: 1950s; 69.4% of all use
Born in the last 25 years: 100.0%; A modern name
Recorded since 1950: 36; People you could plausibly meet

Choose a decade

1950s — 69.4% of all recorded uses (25).

Is Barbe rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago: —; Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago: New entry; Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago: —; Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago: —; Not published both years
Share of its own peak: 0%; Peak was 1952 (12)
Years since peak: 73; Years
Year-to-year steadiness: Volatile; 26.1% average annual change
Best rank ever: #3,214; 1952

Spellings of Barbe

Barbe is not the most common spelling — Marie is, with 86.8% against Barbe's <0.01%.

Marie86.8%540,077
Bree1.5%9,287
Darby1.3%8,338
Barbra1.2%7,758
Karie0.86%5,356
Bambi0.85%5,261
Carie0.71%4,399
Barbie0.68%4,204

Grouped by closeness of spelling (up to two letter changes), same sex, with a floor on all-time use. It catches Sophia/Sofia and Aiden/Ayden, and misses spellings that sound alike but look different, like Sean and Shawn.

Barbe around the world

Where Barbe ranks in official birth records elsewhere in the world. Rankings only — the number of births isn’t comparable between places, so it isn’t shown.

France
1900–1968
#2,225
in 1968

Popularity data from Institut national de la statistique et des études économiques. INSEE data under Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0.

Barbe by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025: Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago: —
Best rank ever: #3,214; 1952
Peak year: 1952; 12 that year
First recorded: 1952
Last recorded: 1961
All-time count: 36
Count in 2025: Under 5

Names similar to Barbe

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

Barin Baran Bareen Baraah Baraa Barkat Bareera Barakah Barara Baraka Barbro Barby Barsha Barkot Barney Barbaa Barba Bariah Barta Barbee Barclay Barabra Bar Baretta

Sibling names for Barbe

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

For a sister

Randy Oralia Kathlyn Louann Celestine Nanci Charmaine Marita

For a brother

Val Artis Jacky Ike Dannie Williams Stanton Denis

Explore around Barbe

Top names of 1952, Barbe's peak year The 1950s in full Other names that peaked in 1952 Girls' names starting with B