Name of the Week

^.


Playful Barnaby has all the old-style homeliness of Harvey
combined with the polish Percival.

 

Origin:

Barnaby is an anglicised form of Barnabas, the Greek form of an Aramaic name.  It appears in the New Testament as the name (or surname) given to Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus who was one of the earliest Christian disciples in Jerusalem and a companion of St Paul. The origin of the Aramaic name is unclear. Many have linked it to the Aramaic elements bar "son" and nebi "prophet, prophesy" however according to Acts 4:36, Barnabas is translated as Υἱὸς παρακλήσεως (Bios "son of" paráklēseus). In Ancient Greek, paráklēsis has several meanings including "exhortation, entreaty, encouragement, comfort, consolation" and was used to refer to a man gifted in teaching or the spreading of Gods message -- in the New Testament, most specifically the preaching of the apostles. St Paul also made a specific link between "prophesy" and "encouragement" in 1 Corinthians 14:3. Therefore, though Barnabas is listed differently under the meanings "son of a prohet," "son of encouragement," "son of consolation" and "son of exhortation," they can all be seen as related to the meaning of a person who teaches and spreads a divine message. Quite an appropriate name for St Barnabas who was a missionary and companion of St Paul.  An alternate British source for Barnaby comes from the hamlet of Barnaby in West Yorkshire. The Domesday Book of 1086 records the place name as Bernodebi which points to it being made up of the name Beornwald (beorn "young warrior" + wald "rule") and the Old Norse byr "settlement, farmstead, enclosure."  There are also several places named Barnby, such as Suffolk, North Yorkshire and Nottingham, which were recorded as Barnebi in the Domesday Book. These most likely come from the Norse name Bjarni (from bjorn "bear") + byr or the Old Norse barn "children" + byr.

Usage:

St Barnabas was a popular saint in the Middle Ages and a multitude of churches were dedicated in his honour. Barnabas, therefore, was used as a name in Britain from at least the 13th century --a Barnabas is mentioned on the Curia Regis Rolls of 1201. The forms Barnaby and Barnabe are found in the 14th century. This, and the placename Barnaby, led to the development of the surnames Barnaby, Barnabe and Barneby.  Barnaby and Barnabas were both maintained through the Tudor period, though they was not especially common. In Smith-Bannisters popularity rankings from 1538-1700, Barnaby only ranked from 1570-9 at #37 putting it among Nathaniel, Abraham, Geoffrey and Reynold.  The short form Barney is attested from the mid-16th century. The name, unsurprisingly, was most common in places with churches dedicated to the saint, such as Cambridgeshire, Warwick, Kent, Suffolk, London, Wiltshire, Norfolk and the Isle of White. It even ranked #40 in the most common names of Elizabethan Norfolk.   Both Barnaby and Barnabas survived through to the 19th century, when it was used consistently in low numbers in England. It was rare in Scotland and Wales, however.  Barnaby did see a brief and small spike in 1842 and 1843 most likely thanks to the serialisation in 1841 of Charles Dickens' novel Barnaby Rudge.  Data from the Surname Atlas Data from the 1881 census (right) shows that both Barnaby and Barnabas weremostly confined to England and, interestingly, most highly concentrated in areas such as East Anglia and the Isles of White where the name had historic use.  Barnabas was most common with 533 males given the name, followed by Barnaby with 88 males.  Barnaby in particular declined in use in the first half of the 20th century to only a handful of births per year. It began to pick up more use in the 1950s and became more established by the 70s, as can be seen by Dunkling's data for the number of boys registered with the name Barnaby in every 10,000 births in England and Wales over the 20th century:  1900 1925  1935  1950  1955  1960  1965  1970  1975  1980  1985  1990                   1     1     2     4     2 Since 1996, Barnaby has sat within the top 300 in England and Wales and has gradually been rising. In 1996 it ranked #251 with 113 births. By 2006 it was #236 (162 births) and reached #211 (258 births) in 2012. Traditional short-form Barney has had a similar upward curve to Barnaby lower down the ranks, while Barnabas has stayed outside the top 1000 but, nevertheless has still been rising.  In 2013, Barnaby ranked #212 (251 births), Barney ranked #382 (106 births) and Barbabas ranked #1147 (22 births).

Famous Bearers:

History: * Barnaby Bernard Lintot (1675-1736), English publisher. Contemporary: * Barnaby Conrad (b. 1922), American writer and artist.  * Barnaby Metschurat (b. 1974), German actor. Literature and Other Media: * Barnaby Rudge, titular character of the novel by Charles Dickens. * Barnaby Grimes, series of children's books by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddell. * Barnaby Jones, television detective series (1973-1980). * Barnaby Tucker, character in Hello Dolly! (1969). * "Barnaby Bear" the name of several children's TV characters.

Variants:

Barnabas, Barney (English), Barnabé (French, Spanish), Barnaba (Polish), Barnabás, Barna (Hungarian), Varnava (Russian)

Pronunciation:

BARN-ə-bee [key]

Possible diminutives:

Barney, Baz, Bo

Sibling Names:

Clementine     Tabitha     Clara     Ottilie     Florence     Margot  Jasper     Rupert     Gulliver     Everett     Montgomery     Wilfred

Name Lists:

Vintage Names   Terrifically Tudor   Upright Elegance   Dickensian Names

 

If you like Barnaby you may also like:   Casper, Bertram, Hector, Magnus, Benedict, Wilbur, Rufus, Malachi, Josiah, Abram

 

Thanks to Pia for requesting this post.