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Barnabas

#3,668 in 2025Boys' name

Prophet's son

Barnabas has been given to 605 babies in the U.S. since 1920. In 2025 it ranked #3,668 of 13,926 boys’ names in use. Its peak year was 2025, with 30 recorded.

Babies named Barnabas, 2025

1 in 111,000

Barnabas over time, 1880–2025

Boys
010203018801900192019401960198020002020

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 Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Barnabas: meaning, origin, and history

Prophet's son

Hebrew

What Barnabas means

Barnabas means “prophet's son”, associated with barneḇú’â.

Dictionary etymologyReferences, data & attribution

From Ancient Greek Βαρναβᾶς (Barnabâs), from Aramaic בַרְנֶבֻאָה (barneḇú’â, literally “prophet's son”), from בּר (bar, “son of”) and נְבִיָּא (nəḇiyyā, “prophet”).

Excerpt from Wiktionary: Barnabas (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Origin, language, and formation

Barnabas is used in English. Its origins include Hebrew.

Barnabas comes through Ancient Greek Βαρναβᾶς and Aramaic בַרְנֶבֻאָה.

Pronunciation and spelling

In English, Barnabas is pronounced /ˈbɑɹnəbəs/.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 605 boys were recorded with the name Barnabas between 1920 and 2025. Its highest annual count was 30 in 2025; its best national rank was #2,881 in 1969.

Over 5 years its rank rose, from #4,435 in 2020 to #3,668 in 2025. Over 10 years its rank rose, from #5,767 in 2015 to #3,668 in 2025.

How common is Barnabas?

Everything below is computed from the 2025 data — the most recent year available.

Among all babies, 2025
1 in 111,000
30 of 3,315,165 births
Among boys only
1 in 56,900
<0.01% of boys
Rank, 2025
#3,668
of 13,926 boys’ names in use
Coin-flip room size
76,598 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Barnabas sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Liam (20,818)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 2025 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 76,598 children born in 2025 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Barnabas. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Barnabass were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Barnabas was born before 2005 — so the typical Barnabas is around 20 today.

Median birth year
2005
About 20 years old
Biggest decade
2010s
22.5% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
52.9%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
595
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

2010s — 22.5% of all recorded uses (136).

Is Barnabas 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
+912
Places climbed
Rank vs 5 years ago
+767
Places climbed
Rank vs 10 years ago
+2,099
Places climbed
Births vs 10 years ago
2.00×
More babies than then
Share of its own peak
100.0%
Peak was 2025 (30)
Years since peak
Peaking now
At its all-time high
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
33.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#2,881
1969

Where Barnabas is used

Across 1910–2025, Barnabas was most concentrated in Texas — about 1 in — boys, against 1 in 2,652,691 across all states with data.

00 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Texas1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded boys given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Barnabas has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Barnabas around the world

Where Barnabas 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.

  • England & Wales
    1996–2025
    #1,613
    in 2025
  • Ireland
    2010–2010
    #720
    in 2010
  • Canada
    2016–2016
    #2,748
    in 2016
  • South Australia
    1961–2012
    #771
    in 2012

Popularity data from Office for National Statistics, Central Statistics Office, Statistics Canada and Consumer and Business Services (South Australia). ONS data under Open Government Licence v3.0. CSO, CBS SA data under CC BY 4.0. StatCan data under Statistics Canada Open Licence.

Barnabas by the numbers

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

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
#3,668
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
Up 767
Best rank ever
#2,881
1969
Peak year
2025
30 that year
First recorded
1920
Last recorded
2025
All-time count
605
Count in 2025
30

Names similar to Barnabas

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

BartoloBarnabyBartlettBarkleyBarakaBarackBarringtonBarretBarnardBarclayBarnesBaruchBarakBarnettBarkonBarnieBartoszBarlowBartleyBarkotBarrenBaranBaraaBarrie

Sibling names for Barnabas

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

Explore around Barnabas

Top names of 2025, Barnabas's peak yearThe 2020s in fullOther names that peaked in 1969Boys' names starting with B