Barb
Barb was last recorded in 1972, when 9 babies were given it; 3,853 Americans have been recorded with it between 1938 and 1972 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 3,200 Americans named Barb and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (83% of everyone recorded); the median is 66 years old and half are between 64 and 68.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Barb by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Barb mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Barb is “a diminutive of the female given name Barbara.”
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Barb?
Unranked in 2025
Its last girls’ rank on record is #5,507, in 1972; SSA lists a name only in years with 5 or more births.
493 babies in 1960, the peak
Barb peaked in 1960, when 493 girls were given it, #440 among girls’ names. It was not recorded in 2025.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | 9 | #5,507 | 0.01 |
| 1971 | 12 | #4,557 | 0.01 |
| 1970 | 25 | #2,782 | 0.01 |
| 1969 | 28 | #2,458 | 0.02 |
| 1968 | 32 | #2,129 | 0.02 |
| 1967 | 65 | #1,361 | 0.04 |
| 1966 | 78 | #1,213 | 0.05 |
| 1965 | 149 | #815 | 0.08 |
| 1964 | 225 | #682 | 0.12 |
| 1963 | 267 | #617 | 0.14 |
Every recorded year (33)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 | 351 | #522 | 0.18 |
| 1961 | 452 | #459 | 0.22 |
| 1960 | 493 | #440 | 0.24 |
| 1959 | 464 | #445 | 0.23 |
| 1958 | 440 | #454 | 0.22 |
| 1957 | 290 | #564 | 0.14 |
| 1956 | 128 | #878 | 0.06 |
| 1955 | 51 | #1,405 | 0.03 |
| 1954 | 28 | #1,988 | 0.01 |
| 1953 | 22 | #2,237 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 12 | #3,213 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 8 | #4,041 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 17 | #2,443 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 29 | #1,768 | 0.02 |
| 1948 | 30 | #1,710 | 0.02 |
| 1947 | 36 | #1,576 | 0.02 |
| 1946 | 31 | #1,587 | 0.02 |
| 1945 | 17 | #2,070 | 0.01 |
| 1944 | 17 | #2,100 | 0.01 |
| 1943 | 16 | #2,261 | 0.01 |
| 1942 | 16 | #2,221 | 0.01 |
| 1941 | 9 | #3,045 | 0.01 |
| 1938 | 6 | #3,881 | 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: girls’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all girls SSA recorded that year.
Is Barb a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Barb has been recorded only for girls: SSA lists no boys with the name in 33 years of records (it lists a name only in years with 5 or more babies of a sex).
Girls and boys named Barb: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Barb, and how old are they?
3,200 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 83% of the 3,853 Americans ever recorded as Barb. The median Barb alive today is 66 years old; half are between 64 and 68.
The 2020 Census counted 11,289 people named Barb (11,247 women and girls, 42 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 3,398 born in the U.S. The Census count is 3.3 times that prediction. Possible reasons: the Census records the name people give, which for many is the short form Barb rather than the name on their birth record, and it counts people born abroad, whom SSA’s files leave out.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 41 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 2,810 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 357 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Barb born?
The states with the most babies named Barb are Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota, with 44% of its births recorded by state since 1910; Minnesota is not among the ten states with the most births.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, girls | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ohio | 475 | not ranked | 2.2× |
| Michigan | 463 | not ranked | 2.6× |
| Minnesota | 452 | not ranked | 5.4× |
| Illinois | 358 | not ranked | 1.7× |
| Wisconsin | 319 | not ranked | 3.4× |
| Pennsylvania | 223 | not ranked | 1.0× |
| Iowa | 173 | not ranked | 2.8× |
| Missouri | 125 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| New York | 122 | not ranked | 0.4× |
| Indiana | 108 | not ranked | 1.0× |
Where Barb is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Barb is most over-represented in Minnesota: since 1938 it was given 5.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among girls’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Barb with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Barb
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Barb and names like it
- Compare Barb and PamBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sBarb peaked in 1960.
- Ohio’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Barb since 1910.
- The top names of 1960The year the most babies were named Barb.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Barb alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.