The baby name Barnaby comes from the ancient world by way of medieval England – a familiar path. Yet this name remains quite rare.
Thanks to Lola for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME BARNABY MEAN?
Back in the first century, the future Saint Barnabas journeyed with the future Saint Paul, winning converts and taking part in the Council of Jerusalem. Some accounts make him the cousin of Mark the Evangelist.
Barnabas was born Joseph. He took the Aramaic name at the same time he set out to spread the gospel. Bar means “son of.” The second element might mean prophet, or it might mean encourage or exhort. Or maybe it means “son of consolation,” depending on the translation.
The baby name Barnaby evolved in medieval England. All those longer, Latin names tended to take Y endings in English. Margaret became Margery; Cecilia would’ve been Cecily.
FAMOUS FIGURES
Thanks to the Biblical figure, both versions surface as a baby’s name over the years.
Neither Barnabas or Barnaby has ever cracked the US Top 1000, but they are broadly familiar and bring to mind a number of figures, including:
- Perhaps the most famous Barnabas was Collins, the vampire of Dark Shadows fame in both the cult classic 1960s television series as well as the 2012 movie starring Johnny Depp.
- Charles Dickens wrote Barnaby Rudge between 1840 and 41. The character’s pet raven would later inspire Edgar Allen Poe.
- Both Broadway musical Hello Dolly! and Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker include minor characters with the name.
- In 1952’s Monkey Business, Cary Grant played a chemist named Barnaby. His experiments go a little wild.
- Buddy Ebsen played a milk-drinking detective in CBS’s Barnaby Jones in the 1970s.
Comedian Alex Borstein (of Family Guy and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) fame and her former husband Jackson Douglas (Jackson on Gilmore Girls) named their kids Henrietta and Barnaby. Those siblings name are perfect together – very traditional, but so far outside of the mainstream that they’re edgy, too.
BARNABY BEAR
A handful of fictional bears have answered to Barnaby.
Most recently, the BBC’s Becky and Barnaby Bear aired in the early 2000s.
A 1960s French animated series titled Colarogl starred a bear. He became Barnaby when the series was imported to England. (Other countries called him Jeremy and Oliver, to name just two.)
NICKNAMES FOR BARNABY
Sound-wise, if you chose Barnaby as a baby’s name, it could easily shorten to Bear. Barney follows logically. Something like Bay, Baz, or Bash could work, too, as might names like Abe or Ari.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME BARNABY?
Places to hear Barnaby are plentiful, but actual bearers of the name? Those are harder to find.
Nickname Barney fared better, ranking in the US Top 1000 from 1880 into the 1970s. Pop culture gives us The Flinstones’ Rubble, the singing Purple Dinosaur, and How I Met Your Mother.
Despite that track record, it’s seldom heard as a baby’s name in the US. And yet, it is probably the common over the course of the 20th century.
As of 2024, here are the numbers:
- The baby name Barnaby was given to just 7 boys born in the US
- Another 22 were named Barnabas
- And Barney was given to a mere 7 boys
In England, the baby name Barnaby ranks in their Top 200.
All of this makes the name incredibly rare, at least in the US.
Worth noting: in a world of gender-neutral names, Barnaby is solidly masculine.
ANTIQUE AND WEARABLE
If you love your names solidly antique, with history to spare, and a quirky, offbeat sensibility, Barnaby might just be the perfect name for your son.
It sounds smart and unexpected. It’s every bit as traditional as Zachary or Anthony, but not nearly as common.
If you’re seeking something truly different, without being invented or outlandish in any way, the name Barnaby delivers.
Would you consider the baby name Barnaby?
This post was originally published on March 20, 2009. It was substantially revised and re-posted on August 22, 2016 and November 25, 2025.
I’ve never really been able to warm to Barnaby – I love his bouyancy and cheeriness, but he just can’t get there to me!! Like Emmy Jo, I prefer him in full, and if my son were named Barnaby, he probably wouldn’t go by a nn.
Honestly, he just reminds me of Lola now 🙂 In your combos he’s pretty spunky & endearing! He’s just not for me!
I like Barnaby, but I love Barney. I think Barney is adorable, and could totally work on a real child. I lean towards wanting to use just Barney, but lately have been toying with using Barnaby/Barnabas to get the nickname.
Barnaby is great! I like the -ar- names, but Barnaby is especially appealing. Barnes and Bas are both good… but I don’t discount Barney. Maybe it has grown on me watching How I Met Your Mother… NPH makes me laugh. Anyhow, I wouldn’t give up on Barney as a nickname. OOOH! A Dark Shadows movie?!?! With Depp?! I second that “exciting”!!!!
Err … exciting about the movie version of Dark Shadows, that is!
Lola, not really! That’s so exciting.
And Barnes! *Smacks forehead.* That didn’t even cross my mind. It’s a solid nn, too.
I like Barnaby in full, but I don’t like Barney or Barry at all. I did suggest this name to my husband just to see what he thought (since he likes Jeremy and Timothy), but it didn’t appeal to him.
I agree with Sarah that it would make a great middle name. It would be a great first name, too — I just think it’s a shame to shorten it.
I really like Barnaby, as Lola says he’s unusual but doesn’t sound out there at all anc can totally imagine a cute little Barnaby… not much more to say than that – Barnaby is lurverly!
Barnaby seems like such an endearing name. Can you imagine teaching sunday school class and having a little Barnaby? I think he’d be my fav student just for his name:) It’s really a fun name to say aloud! I know we’ll never have our own Barnaby here (for one thing, we keep having girls, and for another, our boy’s name is picked out should we ever have one) – but I could definitely see suggesting it to others looking for something different with a catchy ring to it. It would make a nice mn, too, for those feeling less bold in the fn spot (James Barnaby?)
Ooh, just one more thought. Johnny Depp is remaking “Dark Shadows” as a movie, if all things. Apparently, he was a huge fan as a kid too and is playing Barnabas. Maybe *that* will boost Barnabas and by default, Barnaby? It’s a project “In Development” on IMDb for 2011, it says. Hmmm. Wonder.
Barnaby jst will not leave my lists, I find him completely down to earth & charming but he’s got the flasy feel He loves. So it’s a winner for us. Son of the prophet is what I’ve always gotten from his wishy washy etymology. It makes a bit more sense, anyway. 🙂
The other half is a HUGE Drak Shadows fan, a fact I’m sure I’ve mentioned before. He used to sit in front of the TV at 3 and 4 and watch it with his big sisters, who would race home from school to catch it. Yeah.
I fell in love with Barnaby because he’s a charcter in my second favorite musical of all time (and one that’s getting a bit more notice thanks to a cartoon): “Hello Dolly”. If you watch Wall-E, it’s in the first 45 seconds of the movie, as it pans in on Wall-E (we own it, and watch it about 4 times a week right now) so I’m being constantly exposed to “Barnaby!” and I love it. It’s a singable name and I adore those types. Cary Grant definitely didn’t hurt Barnaby either.
As far as nicknames go, you pegged me, I’m a Baz lover and any way I can get it suits me fine. But a Barnaby of mine would probably end up Barnes or Barn at least 60% of the time. And Barney? Well, I figure a real kid could get people to stop associating wit the purple dinosaur. The last really decent cartoon Barney? Rubble. And I like him, at least equally as much as Rufus, for the same thing you mentioned. He’s uncommon, but sound wise doesn’t sound too out there at all. Which is a great thing, as far as I’m concerned.
I can’t imagine flashy little Barnaby’s going to get much love but honestly, I don’t care if he does and am even hoping there’s not suddenly a ton of Barnaby love, I don’t want a tiny bubble of them around at the same time! Barnaby’s aces to us both and that’s all that’s really important, in our book.
Thanks a million, Verity. I really appreciate this one!