Barnabas Forename

11,499th
Most Common
name in the World

Approximately 87,048 people bear this name

Most prevalent in:
Nigeria
Highest density in:
Solomon Islands

Barnabas Forename Definition:

A male name. Hebrew ‘son of exhortation or consolation’, the name of the disciple and companion of St Paul, whose career is recounted in the Acts of the Apostles. It is found in use as a christian name in England from about 1200. The English form of the name, Barnabe or Barnaby, survived in use until the early 19th C (e.

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Barnabas Forename Distribution

PlaceGenderIncidenceFrequencyRank in Area
Nigeria
100%
27,3421:6,494973
Tanzania
100%
10,9541:4,819785
Kenya
100%
6,5481:7,0721,004
Indonesia
100%
5,2731:48,9226,239
Ghana
100%
4,7761:5,650685
Uganda
100%
4,5981:8,908927
Zimbabwe
99%
 
4,0341:3,823626
Zambia-3,4361:4,614659
Cameroon
100%
3,3731:6,407900
Ethiopia
100%
2,5431:38,3644,143
India
100%
2,4771:490,46339,632
Sudan
100%
2,1811:17,3351,813
DR Congo
98%
 
1,8761:39,3542,743
Papua New Guinea
99%
 
1,6421:4,965532
South Africa
99%
 
1,1891:45,8644,862
United States
100%
6091:595,29914,779
Solomon Islands
100%
5871:990189
Romania
100%
5061:39,6282,412
Chad
100%
4331:31,4053,515
Namibia-4101:5,864831
Mali
100%
3311:51,2922,831
England
100%
2921:190,4215,715
Malaysia
99%
 
2751:110,7277,567
Hungary
100%
2051:47,765542
Liberia
100%
1091:40,4782,284
Malawi
100%
1061:161,4377,641
Philippines
100%
841:1,262,01832,068
Haiti
100%
771:139,3117,021
Canada
100%
701:473,33412,733
Germany
100%
571:1,696,10310,601
Austria
100%
481:177,3792,825
Benin
100%
371:285,83411,817
Singapore
100%
361:174,6408,262
Slovakia
100%
311:171,2921,250
Burkina Faso
100%
271:680,72121,030
Botswana
100%
261:84,0177,219
Pakistan
91%
 
251:7,774,30762,662
Guyana
100%
241:31,8033,406
Sweden
100%
231:428,60511,536
Saint Lucia
100%
211:8,4671,232
Australia-191:718,8229,906
Switzerland
100%
171:483,1477,811
Rwanda-161:710,7151,599
Ireland
100%
141:331,6804,801
South Korea-141:396,03011,136
Thailand
100%
141:5,004,70192,981
Brazil-111:19,476,014191,600
China-111:124,186,88965,712
Jamaica-111:262,1127,926
Scotland
100%
111:486,3976,140
Netherlands
100%
101:1,690,20823,366
Trinidad and Tobago
100%
101:136,1428,486
Wales
100%
101:309,4314,737
Bangladesh-91:17,717,93019,122
Egypt
100%
91:10,211,21621,716
Ivory Coast
100%
91:2,563,99353,027
Russia
100%
91:16,025,96751,277
Hong Kong-81:969,0915,961
Greenland-71:8,053908
Iceland-71:52,2882,981
Jordan
100%
71:1,260,9686,027
Norway-71:733,19011,461
Belize
100%
61:59,0524,175
France
100%
61:11,078,39032,981
United Arab Emirates-61:1,191,99940,353
Belgium
100%
51:2,298,00820,299
Qatar
100%
51:473,92138,106
Fiji-41:223,0942,508
Morocco-41:8,587,15911,086
Nepal
100%
41:7,121,83862,014
Poland-41:9,506,7785,827
Swaziland-41:325,0442,285
Taiwan-41:5,942,42087,370
Togo-41:1,809,8105,654
Cambodia
100%
31:5,424,44341,412
Finland
50%
 
31:1,827,72814,078
Italy
100%
31:20,354,03045,650
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
100%
31:37,1933,592
Venezuela
100%
31:10,067,298111,314
Congo
100%
21:2,504,60231,783
Grenada
100%
21:54,0623,078
Israel
50%
 
21:4,201,45930,777
Lebanon
100%
21:2,813,78613,895
New Zealand-21:2,268,02212,390
Spain-21:23,264,98224,876
Turkey-21:38,900,85464,839
Afghanistan-11:32,623,51666,536
Albania-11:3,046,57049,159
Algeria-11:38,176,72032,669
American Samoa-11:55,8453,376
Antigua and Barbuda-11:99,3953,544
Argentina-11:42,773,24343,333
Brunei-11:419,5703,266
Cook Islands-11:18,1531,349
Cyprus-11:871,0765,368
Czechia
100%
11:10,656,16211,509
Denmark-11:5,649,49828,429
Djibouti-11:915,6642,132
Dominican Republic-11:10,431,27030,761
Ecuador-11:17,726,91931,775
Gabon-11:1,883,3364,538
Honduras-11:8,817,46733,018
Kuwait-11:3,785,26415,388
Lesotho
100%
11:2,039,99747,971
North Macedonia-11:2,090,75715,787
Marshall Islands
100%
11:51,2305,014
Micronesia-11:106,5001,462
Nicaragua-11:6,018,33634,175
Oman-11:4,108,66712,526
Palestine
100%
11:4,550,0585,739
Peru
100%
11:31,791,454110,866
Portugal-11:10,410,86612,786
Saint Kitts and Nevis-11:54,8612,604
Seychelles-11:92,6701,891
Turkmenistan-11:5,472,8703,925
Ukraine
100%
11:45,499,90832,056
Vanuatu-11:261,7921,604
Vietnam-11:92,623,11310,484

The alternate forms: Barnabás (7,252), Barnabaš (11), Barnabáš (1,397) & Barnábaš (1) are calculated separately.

Barnabas (41,454) may also be a surname.

Barnabas Forename Meaning

From Where Does The Surname Originate? meaning and history

A male name. Hebrew ‘son of exhortation or consolation’, the name of the disciple and companion of St Paul, whose career is recounted in the Acts of the Apostles. It is found in use as a christian name in England from about 1200. The English form of the name, Barnabe or Barnaby, survived in use until the early 19th C (e.g. Dickens’s Barnaby Rudge), but seems now to be obsolete.

Barnabas Curia Regis Rolls 1201. Barnabe Early S. English Legendary, 14th C (E.E.T.S. 87).

The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Names (1947) by E. G. Withycombe

From the Greek name βαρνάβας, from H בר נבאח, Bar Nebah, which some translate ‘son of exhortation’ or ‘son of consolation.’ It rather means ‘son of prophecy,’ from bar-nebuah. The nickname is Barnaby.

Prænomina (1882) by Richard Stephen Charnock

Hebrew (masculine) - Son of exhortation, or prophecy.

What is Your Name? (1863) by Sophy Moody

Bar'-na-bas, the son of consolation. A disciple of Jesus Christ, and companion of St. Paul in his labours. He was a Levite, born in the island of Cyprus, whose proper name was Joses: the apostles added to it Barnabas. Acts iv. 36, 37.

The Proper Names of The Bible (1855) by John Farrar

Meaning: son of prophecy: son of consolation.

A Dictionary of the Proper Names of the Old and New Testament (1909) by James Beaumont Jackson

A Hebrew name, meaning: Consoling son. (Aramaic) Son of prophecy.

Dictionary of Given Names with Origins and Meanings (1934) by Flora Haines Loughead

Barnabas Forename Popularity

Phonetically Similar Names

Barnabas Name Transliterations

TransliterationICU LatinPercentage of Incidence
Barnabas in the Russian language
Барнабасbarnabas-

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Footnotes

  • First names are taken from the first part of an person's personal name. That is, not their inherited name(s), i.e. their surname(s). The first name includes particles, but not middle names
  • Descriptions may contain details on the name's etymology, origin, ethnicity and history. They are largely reproduced from 3rd party sources; diligence is advised on accepting their validity - more information
  • Name distribution statistics are generated from a global database of over 4 billion people - more information
  • Heatmap: Dark red means there is a higher occurrence of the name, transitioning to light yellow signifies a progressively lower occurrence. Clicking on selected countries will show mapping at a regional level
  • Rank: Name are ranked by incidence using the ordinal ranking method; the name that occurs the most is assigned a rank of 1; name that occur less frequently receive an incremented rank; if two or more name occur the same number of times they are assigned the same rank and successive rank is incremented by the total preceeding names
  • Ethnic group cannot necessarily be determined by geographic occurrence
  • Similar: Names listed in the "Similar" section are phonetically similar and may not have any relation to Barnabas