Given name & surname

Barnes

“one who lives near the barns”

Barnes is used as a given name and a surname. One English interpretation is “one who lives near the barns.”

Meaning & origin

What it means

One English interpretation is “one who lives near the barns.”

Where it comes from

An origin associated with this spelling is English.

How it developed

From Old Norse Bjǫrn, from Old English Beorn.

Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The story

Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1913. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.

From dated birth records

Barnes through the years

Babies since 1880
195
195 boys · 0 girls
Most popular year
2023
11 babies
2025
8
#9,016 for boys
2021–25 vs 2016–20
+6%
Steady
051015192019401960198020002025Highest share 19144.7
Barnes in U.S. Social Security birth records, 1913–2025, per million boys born. Years with fewer than five births for a sex are not published and appear as zero. Use the arrow keys to step through years.

By the numbers

In 2025, this name appeared in 8 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 9,016 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 316 as a first name in 2020; 206,431 as a surname in 2020.

From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.

Barnes’s family of names

Barnes has a related form in Barn. Barnes has a related form in Barne. Barnes has a related form in Barns.

Walk Barnes’s family in the name graph

BarnesBurnsBernsBarneBarnBarnsBarness

The ring: nicknames and forms.

Hover or tab through the constellation to see how each name is related. Bigger dots are names more people in the U.S. share.

Nicknames & forms 6

Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.

People named Barnes

Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.

Similar names

If you love Barnes, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.

English

Banks

Banks is a surname.

67FamiliarRising fast

91% boys · 9% girls

English

Barrett

“having the strength of a bear” · “an argumentative person”

74CommonRising

98% boys · 2% girls

English · Modern

Maicol

Maicol is a masculine given name from English. It is used in Portuguese.

23RareRising

>99% boys

Middle English · Modern

Preacher

Preacher is a masculine given name from English.

11Very rare

>99% boys

English

Baker

“one who bakes”

72CommonRising fast

91% boys · 9% girls

English · Modern

Keem

Keem is a masculine given name from English.

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

English · Modern

Maikol

Maikol is a given name from English. It is used in Spanish.

25RareRising

>99% boys

English · Modern

Vili

“the determined protector”

0Not recently recorded

>99% boys

Sibling ideas

Names that share Barnes’s feel without repeating its first letter or rhyming with it.

A brother for Barnes

A sister for Barnes