Meaning and history
Greek form of an Aramaic name. In Acts of the New Testament, the byname Barnabas was given to Joseph, a Jew from Cyprus and a companion of Paul on his missionary journeys. The original Aramaic form is unattested, but it may derive from בּר נביא (bar navi), meaning “son of the prophet,” though Acts 4:36 says the name means “son of encouragement.” As an English name, Barnabas came into occasional use after the 12th century and is now rare, though the variant Barnaby remains moderately common in Britain.
20062006: 9 births, rank #7,998
2007: 7 births, rank #9,788
2008: 9 births, rank #8,324
2009: 10 births, rank #7,692
2010: 9 births, rank #8,139
20112011: 9 births, rank #8,079
2012: 8 births, rank #8,864
2013: 18 births, rank #4,981
2014: 14 births, rank #5,997
2015: 15 births, rank #5,746
20162016: 13 births, rank #6,349
2017: 24 births, rank #4,224
2018: 9 births, rank #8,154
2019: 17 births, rank #5,340
2020: 22 births, rank #4,426
20212021: 16 births, rank #5,562
2022: 13 births, rank #6,479
2023: 19 births, rank #5,075
2024: 22 births, rank #4,571
20252025: 30 births, rank #3,658
In 2025, 30 babies were recorded with the name Barnabas, ranking #3,658 among boys.