Barney
Barney is outside the top 1,000 in 2024, with 7 births. Its best rank was 202nd, in 1887.
- Rank in 2024
- —outside the top 1,000
- Births in 2024
- 70.00% of boys
- Peak year
- 1919304 births
- Best rank
- #202in 1887
- Since 1880
- 16,085people given the name
The story in the numbers
16,085 boys have been named Barney in the United States since 1880, according to Social Security records. The busiest single year was 1919, with 304 births.
The name has all but left use: 7 births in 2024, against 304 at the peak.
Half of everyone given the name was born by 1939, and the 1950s alone account for 17%. It has spent 96 of 145 years in the top 1,000.
Rank among boys, year by year
By decade
| Decade | boys named Barney | |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 535 | |
| 1890s | 572 | |
| 1900s | 595 | |
| 1910s | 2,197 | |
| 1920s | 2,400 | |
| 1930s | 1,911 | |
| 1940s | 2,168 | |
| 1950s | 2,672 | |
| 1960s | 1,598 | |
| 1970s | 755 | |
| 1980s | 430 | |
| 1990s | 173 | |
| 2000s | 30 | |
| 2010s | 37 | |
| 2020s | 12 |
In 1919, its biggest year
Barney was the 319th most given boy’s name that year. The top five boys’ names of 1919 were John, William, James, Robert and Charles. See all of 1919.
Names that rose and fell with Barney
Same sex, most similar popularity curve over 145 years, in five-year steps — the shape of the line, not the size.
- Claudepeak 1920
- Frankpeak 1918
- Rufuspeak 1922
- Lutherpeak 1922
- Websterpeak 1915
- Walterpeak 1918
- Archiepeak 1918
- Arthurpeak 1921
What this page does not tell you. The Social Security data records how many babies were given a name, not what the name means or where it comes from — so neither do we. Counts cover people with a Social Security number; names given to fewer than five babies in a year are withheld. More on the data.