Barry
Barry was given to 114 boys in 2025, #1,520 among boys’ names; 182,036 Americans have been recorded with it since 1883 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 124,000 Americans named Barry and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (68% of everyone recorded); the median is 65 years old and half are between 56 and 72.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Barry by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Barry mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Barry is “a male given name from Irish.” Its etymology gives the senses “white” (fionn) and “head” (barr).
Also “a diminutive of the male given name Bartholomew.”
Anglicized form of Irish Bairre, short form of Fionnbharr, from fionn (“white”) + barr (“head”).
/ˈbæɹi/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Barry?
#1,520 among boys’ names, 2025
Barry fell from #1,267 in 2015 to #1,520 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born fell from 74.1 to 66.7 per million.
6,611 babies in 1962, the peak
Barry peaked in 1962, when 6,611 babies were given it (6,585 boys, #61 among boys’ names). The 114 births of 2025 are 2% of that peak.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 114 | #1,520 | 0.07 |
| 2024 | 131 | #1,413 | 0.08 |
| 2023 | 104 | #1,650 | 0.06 |
| 2022 | 124 | #1,459 | 0.07 |
| 2021 | 121 | #1,479 | 0.07 |
| 2020 | 135 | #1,325 | 0.08 |
| 2019 | 144 | #1,287 | 0.08 |
| 2018 | 155 | #1,207 | 0.09 |
| 2017 | 136 | #1,323 | 0.07 |
| 2016 | 170 | #1,136 | 0.09 |
Every recorded year (134)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 142 | #1,267 | 0.07 |
| 2014 | 124 | #1,376 | 0.06 |
| 2013 | 103 | #1,540 | 0.05 |
| 2012 | 113 | #1,458 | 0.06 |
| 2011 | 119 | #1,396 | 0.06 |
| 2010 | 120 | #1,390 | 0.06 |
| 2009 | 149 | #1,210 | 0.08 |
| 2008 | 157 | #1,154 | 0.08 |
| 2007 | 159 | #1,130 | 0.08 |
| 2006 | 169 | #1,058 | 0.08 |
| 2005 | 157 | #1,052 | 0.08 |
| 2004 | 175 | #957 | 0.09 |
| 2003 | 199 | #866 | 0.10 |
| 2002 | 193 | #858 | 0.10 |
| 2001 | 210 | #798 | 0.11 |
| 2000 | 263 | #676 | 0.13 |
| 1999 | 267 | #645 | 0.14 |
| 1998 | 301 | #610 | 0.16 |
| 1997 | 316 | #583 | 0.17 |
| 1996 | 340 | #550 | 0.18 |
| 1995 | 353 | #540 | 0.19 |
| 1994 | 409 | #497 | 0.21 |
| 1993 | 484 | #451 | 0.25 |
| 1992 | 474 | #458 | 0.24 |
| 1991 | 587 | #385 | 0.29 |
| 1990 | 693 | #348 | 0.34 |
| 1989 | 700 | #332 | 0.35 |
| 1988 | 733 | #309 | 0.38 |
| 1987 | 791 | #277 | 0.42 |
| 1986 | 852 | #261 | 0.46 |
| 1985 | 966 | #240 | 0.52 |
| 1984 | 962 | #232 | 0.53 |
| 1983 | 993 | #225 | 0.55 |
| 1982 | 1,183 | #208 | 0.65 |
| 1981 | 1,346 | #186 | 0.75 |
| 1980 | 1,396 | #175 | 0.78 |
| 1979 | 1,401 | #170 | 0.81 |
| 1978 | 1,499 | #162 | 0.91 |
| 1977 | 1,458 | #164 | 0.89 |
| 1976 | 1,421 | #165 | 0.91 |
| 1975 | 1,481 | #164 | 0.95 |
| 1974 | 1,563 | #156 | 1.0 |
| 1973 | 1,515 | #159 | 1.0 |
| 1972 | 1,752 | #148 | 1.1 |
| 1971 | 2,359 | #133 | 1.3 |
| 1970 | 2,797 | #117 | 1.5 |
| 1969 | 3,060 | #99 | 1.7 |
| 1968 | 2,854 | #107 | 1.6 |
| 1967 | 3,208 | #96 | 1.8 |
| 1966 | 3,916 | #87 | 2.2 |
| 1965 | 4,324 | #86 | 2.3 |
| 1964 | 5,368 | #69 | 2.7 |
| 1963 | 5,953 | #67 | 2.9 |
| 1962 | 6,585 | #61 | 3.2 |
| 1961 | 6,220 | #66 | 2.9 |
| 1960 | 5,733 | #72 | 2.7 |
| 1959 | 5,601 | #73 | 2.6 |
| 1958 | 5,326 | #79 | 2.5 |
| 1957 | 5,790 | #72 | 2.7 |
| 1956 | 5,988 | #69 | 2.8 |
| 1955 | 5,599 | #70 | 2.7 |
| 1954 | 5,844 | #68 | 2.9 |
| 1953 | 5,182 | #73 | 2.6 |
| 1952 | 5,504 | #69 | 2.8 |
| 1951 | 5,284 | #71 | 2.8 |
| 1950 | 4,694 | #74 | 2.6 |
| 1949 | 4,607 | #73 | 2.6 |
| 1948 | 4,670 | #74 | 2.7 |
| 1947 | 5,472 | #68 | 3.0 |
| 1946 | 4,624 | #68 | 2.8 |
| 1945 | 3,138 | #84 | 2.3 |
| 1944 | 2,979 | #84 | 2.2 |
| 1943 | 3,193 | #82 | 2.2 |
| 1942 | 3,209 | #79 | 2.3 |
| 1941 | 2,465 | #91 | 2.0 |
| 1940 | 1,835 | #109 | 1.6 |
| 1939 | 1,376 | #127 | 1.2 |
| 1938 | 1,042 | #155 | 0.94 |
| 1937 | 726 | #182 | 0.68 |
| 1936 | 706 | #185 | 0.68 |
| 1935 | 729 | #183 | 0.70 |
| 1934 | 523 | #226 | 0.51 |
| 1933 | 490 | #235 | 0.49 |
| 1932 | 513 | #235 | 0.49 |
| 1931 | 299 | #315 | 0.29 |
| 1930 | 240 | #370 | 0.22 |
| 1929 | 147 | #483 | 0.14 |
| 1928 | 141 | #508 | 0.13 |
| 1927 | 98 | #639 | 0.09 |
| 1926 | 78 | #722 | 0.07 |
| 1925 | 69 | #794 | 0.06 |
| 1924 | 52 | #980 | 0.05 |
| 1923 | 54 | #931 | 0.05 |
| 1922 | 36 | #1,198 | 0.03 |
| 1921 | 38 | #1,161 | 0.03 |
| 1920 | 28 | #1,387 | 0.03 |
| 1919 | 32 | #1,249 | 0.03 |
| 1918 | 41 | #1,064 | 0.04 |
| 1917 | 28 | #1,294 | 0.03 |
| 1916 | 19 | #1,647 | 0.02 |
| 1915 | 34 | #1,103 | 0.04 |
| 1914 | 33 | #968 | 0.05 |
| 1913 | 14 | #1,444 | 0.03 |
| 1912 | 20 | #1,027 | 0.05 |
| 1911 | 8 | #1,296 | 0.04 |
| 1910 | 15 | #786 | 0.08 |
| 1909 | 13 | #807 | 0.08 |
| 1908 | 6 | #1,230 | 0.04 |
| 1907 | 7 | #1,105 | 0.05 |
| 1906 | 11 | #759 | 0.08 |
| 1905 | 5 | #1,246 | 0.04 |
| 1904 | 5 | #1,220 | 0.04 |
| 1903 | 9 | #787 | 0.08 |
| 1901 | 6 | #959 | 0.06 |
| 1900 | 10 | #838 | 0.07 |
| 1899 | 8 | #790 | 0.08 |
| 1898 | 6 | #1,014 | 0.05 |
| 1893 | 9 | #707 | 0.08 |
| 1892 | 7 | #868 | 0.06 |
| 1891 | 8 | #705 | 0.08 |
| 1889 | 7 | #798 | 0.06 |
| 1885 | 8 | #703 | 0.07 |
| 1884 | 8 | #707 | 0.07 |
| 1883 | 5 | #902 | 0.05 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Barry a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Barry has been given almost only to boys: 766 girls in 134 years of records.
Girls and boys named Barry: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Barry, and how old are they?
124,000 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 68% of the 182,036 Americans ever recorded as Barry. The median Barry alive today is 65 years old; half are between 56 and 72.
The 2020 Census counted 136,560 people named Barry (349 women and girls, 136,211 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 138,557 born in the U.S. The Census count is 1% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 7,310 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 69,700 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 31,500 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 11,300 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 3,010 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 1,690 |
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 Barry born?
The states with the most babies named Barry are Pennsylvania, New York and California, with 28% of its births recorded by state since 1910.
| State | Since 1910 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pennsylvania | 20,284 | not ranked | 1.9× |
| New York | 19,160 | #1,794 | 1.2× |
| California | 10,519 | #1,251 | 0.7× |
| Illinois | 7,350 | not ranked | 0.8× |
| Texas | 7,347 | #1,776 | 0.6× |
| Ohio | 7,299 | #1,126 | 0.8× |
| New Jersey | 6,950 | not ranked | 1.3× |
| North Carolina | 6,622 | #1,293 | 1.3× |
| Massachusetts | 6,172 | not ranked | 1.2× |
| Virginia | 6,046 | not ranked | 1.5× |
Where Barry is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Barry is most over-represented in Pennsylvania: since 1910 it was given 1.9 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 boys’ 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 Barry with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 5 names spelled alike, given to 183,443 babies since 1880, Barry is the most given (99% of them). In 2025 it was given to 114 of their 172 babies (66%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Barry
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 Barry and names like it
- Compare Barry and BrayBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 1960sBarry peaked in 1962.
- Pennsylvania’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Barry since 1910.
- Irish namesWiktionary’s origin for Barry: every such name, by how often it is given.
- The top names of 1962The year the most babies were named Barry.
- The names of the Baby BoomersMost people named Barry alive today were born 1946-1964.
- Names starting with BMost given first.