Given name & surname · also Old English
Barrington
“a fair-haired man”
Barrington is a variant of Barry. One interpretation is “a fair-haired man.”
Meaning & origin
What it means
Barrington is a variant of Barry. One interpretation is “a fair-haired man.”
Explained through its name family
Where it comes from
Barrington has more than one origin: as an English surname, it comes from Medieval Latin Barentinum; as an Irish surname, it goes back to a word meaning “descendant of Bearán”.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1928. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Barrington through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 1,281
- 1,281 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1991
- 43 babies
- 2025
- 11
- #7,254 for boys
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- −25%
- Easing
By the numbers
In 2025, this name appeared in 11 U.S. birth records for boys, ranking No. 7,254 among boys’ names. The recent annual counts are too incomplete to establish a ten-year comparison. Its largest published annual count for boys was 43 in 1991. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 1,956 as a first name in 2020; 4,284 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.
Barrington’s family of names
Barrington has a related form in Barry.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 1
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
People named Barrington
- Barrington Moore Jr.American historian and sociologist1913–2005
- Barrington LevyJamaican reggae and dancehall artistborn 1964
- Barry CunliffeEnglish archaeologistborn 1939
- JPEGMafiaAmerican rapper and record producer (born 1989)
- Barrington J. BayleyBritish writer (1937-2008)
- Barrington PheloungAustralian composer (1954–2019)
- Barrie HoleWelsh footballer (1942-2019)
- Barrington IrvingJamaican-born American aviatorborn 1983
- Barrington BelgraveEnglish footballer (born 1980)
Listed by how widely each person is written about, which says nothing about the name itself.
Similar names
If you love Barrington, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Brandon
“from the broom or gorse hill”
>99% boys
Garrison
“from the spear-fortified town”
>99% boys
Dillon
“resembling a lion; a faithful man”
89% boys · 11% girls
Quinton
“from the queen's town or settlement”
>99% boys
Coulton
“coal”
>99% boys
Demarcus
“the son of Marcus”
>99% boys
Clinton
“from the town on the hill”
>99% boys
Airic
“one who is pleasant and agreeable”
>99% boys