What Does The Name Barbara Mean?

As a name, Barbara is Latin and literally means "foreign woman," from the word "barbarus" or foreign. This word itself is of Greek origin; it came from a made-up word "bar-bar" to indicate the sound of non-Greeks talking in different languages (the name Barbara still exists in modern Greek, pronounced var-VAR-a.) The word "barbarian" clearly comes from this root too, and illustrates the ancients' mistrust of foreigners.

Barbara has long been popular as a Christian name due to the legend of St Barbara, who is the patron saint of stonemasons and (oddly enough) gunpowder. This is probably because her father is said to have murdered her and then been struck by lightning.

The name is sometimes spelled Barbra (like Barbra Streisand.) Short forms and pet names include Babs, Barb (mostly in America) occasionally the old fashioned nicknames Bun and Bunny, and most famously of all, Barbie, as in the doll.

Barbara is a popular feminine first name. It is a common English, Italian, French, German, Polish, Hungarian and Slovene feminine first name. The name Barbara originates from the Greek word barbaros, which means foreign.

Barbara is pronounced in two ways in the English language. In both the instances, the emphasis is more on the first syllable of the name Barbara, namely Bar. It is either pronounced as Bahr-bahr-a or Bahr-bra in English. The Polish equivalent of the name lays more stress on the middle syllable Bah. It is pronounced as bahr-Bah-rah in Polish.

Barbara was the name of a legendary saint. She was a young woman. She was killed by her own father Dioscorus. Dioscorus eventually met his own end when he was struck by a bolt of lightning. Saint Barbara is the patron saint of architects, geologists, stonemasons and people who work in the artillery unit of the armed forces.

It means barbarian- and I am not joking. Look it up for yourself.

Barbara is my mommy's name.

ITS AWESOME!

Barbara name means Foreign Woman and is of Italian origin. [Source: Barbara Name Meaning, Origin, History, Nationality].
Top Places of origin for name Barbara are Germany, Italy, Hungary, Switzerland, Bavaria and France. You can click on these countries names and a page will be displayed showing you names and detailed records of people with this surname. You might need to create account there to view detailed records. But, names can be viewed freely.
You can also Visit Average Life Expectancy Chart of Barbara name, which shows Average Life Expectancy of Barbara for various years.
Also Visit Top Occupations Chart of Barbara name which is based on up till year 1880's records.
There is a book named The Barbara name in History which is a unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the Guest family name as far back in history as possible.