Barb
Recorded 1938–1972 · United States
Barb was most popular in 1960, when 493 American babies were given the name — ranking #780 that year. It was not recorded in 2025. Across 1880–2025 the Social Security Administration has recorded 3,853 people named Barb.
Barb over time
How old is the name Barb?
Barb first appears in Social Security Administration records in 1938, which makes it about 87 years old as a recorded American name. It has been recorded in 33 of the 88 years since. It was last recorded in 1972.
How many people are named Barb?
The Social Security Administration has recorded 3,853 American births named Barb between 1880 and 2025. That is recorded US births, not a world population — it counts people issued a Social Security number at birth in the United States. Of those, roughly 3,290 are estimated to be alive today.
How many babies were named Barb in 2025?
Barb was not recorded in 2025. The SSA withholds any name given to fewer than five babies in a year, so fewer than five American babies were given it.
Is Barb a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Across the whole record Barb is a girl’s name — 100.0% of the 3,853 Americans given it were girls and 0.0% were boys.
Counted from every US birth the Social Security Administration recorded under this name, so it reflects use rather than opinion. A name given to fewer than five babies of one sex in a year is withheld at source and is not counted.
How old is someone named Barb?
Roughly 3,290 Americans named Barb are alive today — 85% of everyone ever recorded with the name. The median is 66 years old, and half are between 64 and 68. That is a narrow band: Barb arrived and faded within about a decade rather than staying in steady use.
An estimate, not a count. Recorded births are carried forward through the Social Security Administration’s 2023 period life table, by age and sex. That table describes mortality in one recent year, so it credits the oldest cohorts with today’s survival rather than the harsher rates they actually lived through — the further back a name peaked, the more this will overstate how many remain. It counts people issued a Social Security number at birth, not immigrants who arrived later.
Where Barb is most concentrated
How much more common the name is in each state than across the country as a whole.
Explore further
See Barb on the interactive charts
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Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. Years 1880–2025. namelegacy.org