Barbara

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Female Name

Usage

Old Swedish
Old Danish
Faroese
Icelandic
Swedish
Danish
Finnish
Norwegian

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Origin and Meaning

Greek βαρβαρος (barbaros) = 'foreign'

The original meaning was 'babbling one, person who is difficult to understand' (see also -a)

Related Names

Babara	♀
Barba	♀
Barbara	♀
Barbára	♀
Barbra	♀
Barebra	♀
Parapara	♀

See also Babette, Babba, Bara, Barbie, Barbora (Czech), Barbro, Betty, Borbála (Hungarian), Bärbel (German), Palapalât (Greenlandic), Varvara (Russian)

Matronyms [What's That?]

Male

Barbaruson
Barböruson

Female

Barbarudóttir
Barbörudóttir

Grammar

- Danish
Nominative:	Barbara
Genitive:	Barbaras

- Faroese
Nominative:	Barbara
Accusative:	Barbaru
Dative:	Barbaru
Genitive:	Barbaru

- Finnish
Nominative:	Barbara
Genitive:	Barbaran
Partitive:	Barbaraa

- Icelandic
Nominative:	Barbara
Accusative:	Barböru
Dative:	Barböru
Genitive:	Barböru

- Norwegian
Nominative:	Barbara
Genitive:	Barbaras

- Swedish
Nominative:	Barbara
Genitive:	Barbaras

Name Days

Denmark

4 December

Faroe Islands

4 December

Norway

4 December

Finland (Swedish Language)

4 December

Sweden

4 December

Further Information

• Iceland: Officially approved as a given name
• Faroe Islands: Officially approved as a given name

Earliest Documented Usage

• Sweden:
  • 1390
  • 14th century
• Norway:
  • 14th century
  • 15th century
• Denmark:
  • 15th century
• Iceland:
  • 15th century

Strongest Period of Usage

• Sweden:
  • 1865-1899
  • 1930-1959
  • 1940-1959
• Denmark:
  • Top 17 in the 17th century in Nakskov
  • Top 18 in the 17th century in Sjælland
  • 1940-1949
  • 1970-
  • 20th century

Predominant Regional Usage

• Sweden:
  • Ångermanland (19th century) see map
  • Jämtland (19th century) see map
  • Gotland (19th century) see map
  • Dalarna
  • Norrland
  • Östsverige
• Denmark:
  • Bornholm

Namesakes

• Saint Barbara (3rd century?), patron saint of armourers, artillerymen, military engineers, miners and others who work with explosives because of her old legend's association with lightning, and also of mathematicians; she is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers

Trivia

• Sweden: In January 1973, 857 people were named Barbara (percentage of first or only given name: 40 %)
• Barbara is also used as an Icelandic horse name

Statistics

Name Count per Country (What's this?)

Please turn your device to landscape orientation for better view of statistics tables and graphs.

Country	Commonness Commonness	Total		Female ♀		Male ♂
		as main name#	also middle name&	as main name#	also middle name&	as main name#	also middle name&
Sweden		2199	3916	2199	3914	0	2
Denmark		1477	n.a.	1477	n.a.	0	n.a.
Finland		n.a.	1099	n.a.	1099	0	0
Iceland		194	337	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Greenland		6	14	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Norway		1005	n.a.	1005	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
#: count of main first name only
&: count of both main and additional first names
Name counts are approximate as statistics normally is not published for names given to less than 3 or 5 persons per country.

 

Top List Ranking

Sources:

Norwegian Historic Statistics Trend

Swedish Regional Distribution

Regional distribution of Barbara (f) in Sweden in the year 1880.