Barry

Spellings & scripts●

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 2 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Barry is also recorded as 3 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Spanish given name136K records spelled Barry5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, Colombia

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian

  Also written Bãřřý

• a separate given name39K records spelled Barry2 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India

  Also written Bärry

• Hindi given name18K records spelled Barry12 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Sinhala

  Also written Byari, Byaari, Barrie, বযারি, ব্যারি

91 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Barry is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, from OFr barri ‘rampart’, later ‘dweller in the suburb’; first attested Nest de Barri 1185 P (Sx). Also Irish/Scottish forms from Barry; from Barry in Angus

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In Irish, ‘spearlike’; St Barry was a disciple of St Kevin and later a missionary in Scotland.

  as a name·Irish first names

• In English, Ó Beargha; sept from Wales with the Anglo-Norman invasion in 1170, settled chiefly in Co. Cork; later Earls of Barrymore and Viscounts of Buttevant.

  as a name·Irish family names

• In English, surname of Irish/Norman origin from de Barri; earliest note on page cites Giraldus and the de Barri family.

  as a name·Welsh Surnames

• In English, possibly from the Glamorgan place-name Barry; the text also allows a Pembrokeshire source

  as a name·Welsh Surnames

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 134 years between 1883–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Barry Fitzgeraldb. 1888IEIrish actor (1888–1961)
• Barry Unsworthb. 1930GBEnglish novelist (1930–2012)
• John Barryb. 1933GBBritish composer and conductor (1933–2011)
• Barry C. Barishb. 1936USAmerican physicist
• Barry Levinsonb. 1942USAmerican screenwriter, film director, actor, and producer
• Barry Whiteb. 1944USAmerican soul singer (1944–2003)
• Barry Gibbb. 1946GBBritish musician
• Barry Marshallb. 1951AUNobel Prize winner, and Professor of Clinical Microbiology
• Barry Sonnenfeldb. 1953USAmerican film director and cinematographer
• Barry Keoghanb. 1992IEIrish actor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 794 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Barry?

We estimate roughly 137 thousand people bear Barry (counting its spellings and scripts) across 9 countries in our records.

In which country does Barry have the most bearers?

Barry is most frequently recorded in the United Kingdom, where it is most often spelled barry.

How common is Barry compared with other names?

In the United Kingdom, Barry is the 153rd most common given name of 369,273 given names recorded there.

Is Barry a male or female name?

Barry is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Barry mean?

Recorded meaning: Person from places in Wales named Barry, ‘hill’; also from Barrie in Scotland; person living in a suburb from Anglo-Norman barri; different form of Parry; or from Irish Gaelic Ó Beargha/Ó Baire.