Masterpiece Generator Name Generator
How popular is the name Barney?
Births per year, rank history and how many Barneys are alive today.
Barney (male) is an uncommon boys' name in England and Wales, ranked 257th in 2025 with 179 babies given the name. This spelling of the name peaked in 2021, when 195 babies were given the name, the 246th most popular that year. Its fortunes dipped to rank 298 in 2024 before climbing back to the 257th place it holds today. Numbers have been stable in recent years. Barney is one spelling of a name also recorded as Barnie; the combined figures below cover every spelling.
Across all spellings of the name, the Barney you are most likely to meet is around 5 years old. Half of all Barneys born in England and Wales are between 5 and 19, and there are at least 2,800 of them alive today. If you walk into a room of 100 males, there's less than a 1% chance that anyone will be called Barney - on average, only one in every 109 such rooms contains a Barney.
How many babies are named Barney each year?
Includes all spellings: Barney, Barnie. Figures before 1996 are estimates.
Where does the Barney spelling rank?
Where does the Barnie spelling rank?
Where this data comes from
Figures from 1996 onwards are the Office for National Statistics' annual baby-name registrations for England and Wales, which record every name given to three or more babies in a year. Figures before 1996 are estimates: the ONS published only top-100 rankings at ten-year intervals back to 1904, so counts for those years are modelled from the rankings, calibrated against Douglas Galbi's long-run research into English name frequencies, and shown with an uncertainty band. Estimates of living bearers combine these birth figures with national life tables and ONS mid-year population estimates.
One limit worth naming: these figures count names as registered at birth. Anyone who changes their name later in life - including trans people, and anyone who adopts a different name by deed poll or simply by use - is not reflected here. Birth registrations record where a name began, not the name a person lives with.
Common questions
When was the name Barney most popular?
Barney peaked in 2021, when 204 babies in England and Wales were given the name across all spellings.
How many people are called Barney?
At least 2,800 people named Barney in any spelling born in England and Wales are alive today.
How old is the typical Barney?
Most living Barneys are between 5 and 19; the most common age is about 5.
Is Barney becoming more or less popular?
Broadly steady in recent years.