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Meaning of the nameBárbara

Bárbara is a female name that comes from Latin barbarus, from Greek bárbaros, 'foreign'; it spread through devotion to Saint Barbara.

Meaning

“foreign woman”

Source: Behind the Name: Barbara

People (2022)
181,614
Rank in Brazil
#184
Median age
25 years
2010 Census
171,342
people

Bárbara in the 2022 Census

People with the first name Bárbara, by the decade they were born. In the chart, 70 = the 1970s and 20+ = 2020 to 2022. The largest group was born in the 1990s (64,004 people).

180,783 women 831 men

Source: IBGE, 2022 Demographic Census, Nomes no Brasil. The census counts the first name of people alive in 2022; small counts are not published, and the first group covers everyone born before 1940. How to read these data.

Where the name Bárbara is most common

States with the highest share of people named Bárbara in the population, in the 2022 Census.

  1. Distrito Federal 0.140%
  2. Minas Gerais 0.122%
  3. Rio de Janeiro 0.120%
  4. São Paulo 0.100%
  5. Espírito Santo 0.098%
All states
StatePeople% of population
São Paulo44,5250.100%
Minas Gerais25,0690.122%
Rio de Janeiro19,2600.120%
Bahia12,7600.090%
Rio Grande do Sul9,8460.091%
Paraná8,8310.077%
Pernambuco6,9850.077%
Santa Catarina6,7020.088%
Goiás6,0480.086%
Ceará5,1850.059%
Pará4,8320.060%
Distrito Federal3,9340.140%
Espírito Santo3,7440.098%
Maranhão3,5910.053%
Amazonas2,3560.060%
Rio Grande do Norte2,3300.071%
Alagoas2,2630.072%
Paraíba2,2110.056%
Mato Grosso2,1300.058%
Sergipe2,0750.094%
Piauí1,9230.059%
Mato Grosso do Sul1,9120.069%
Tocantins9750.065%
Rondônia8650.055%
Amapá4810.066%
Roraima4360.069%
Acre3450.042%

States with fewer than 15 people with the name are not shown: IBGE does not publish those counts.

About the name Bárbara

Wiktionary records Bárbara as a name coming from Latin and, before that, from Ancient Greek. Behind the Name links it to Latin barbarus, 'foreign, wild, strange', from Greek barbaros, 'foreign, non-Greek', and says that the fame of Saint Barbara brought the name into general use in the Christian world in the Middle Ages. In the 2022 Census, IBGE recorded 181,614 people named Bárbara, almost always women, with a median age of 25; the name has the most records among women born in the 1990s and, proportionally, is most common in the Distrito Federal.

Sources

  1. Wiktionary: Bárbara · en.wiktionary.org · origin
  2. Behind the Name: Barbara · behindthename.com · meaning
  3. Dicionário de Nomes em Uso no Brasil: Barbara · dicionariodenomesdobrasil.com.br · spelling

Questions about the name Bárbara

What does the name Bárbara mean?

Bárbara means “foreign woman”, according to Behind the Name.

How many people are named Bárbara in Brazil?

IBGE's 2022 Census recorded 181,614 people with the first name Bárbara, which ranks it number 184 among the country's names. The largest group was born in the 1990s.

Is Bárbara a boy's or a girl's name?

Bárbara is a female name: in the 2022 Census, 180,783 women and 831 men had this name.

What is the origin of the name Bárbara?

Bárbara is a name of Greek and Latin origin. The sources are listed at the end of the page.

In which Brazilian state is Bárbara most common?

Proportionally, in Distrito Federal: 0.140% of the state's population is named Bárbara (3,934 people), according to the 2022 Census.

More names of Greek origin

See all

Spotted a mistake? Report a correction for Bárbara with a source. See the methodology.