Barbara is back! Among the fastest-rising names of 2023, Barbara came back from oblivion at the very bottom of the Top 1000, gaining nearly 100 places on the popularity list.
 
Credit 2023's breakout movie Barbie, which gave a new stylish feel to the classic Barbara. Rooted in ancient Greek and ranking in the Top 10 in the US throughout the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, Barbara is now poised to become fashionable again for the next generation of babies.
 The name Barbara has the same root as the word barbarian, meaning stranger or foreigner. There is the popular third century St. Barbara, who was reputed to have been imprisoned in a tower and may have been the inspiration for Rapunzel. She became the patron of architects, stonemasons, fortifications, and geologists, and protects against fire and lightning.
 
Barbaras appear in works by Dickens and Thackeray and, most notably, as the idealistic protagonist of the George Bernard Shaw play Major Barbara. Noteworthy bearers include real estate mogul Barbara Corcoran, actress Barbara Stanwyck (born Ruby), novelist Barbara Pym, TV's Barbara Walters, and "My Name is Barbra" Streisand. Barbara Gordon was the original Batgirl in the comic books.
 And the of course there's Barbie, though today, Bebe, Bobbie, or even Babs might make a cuter retro nickname.

Barbara

Attractive translation of Beatrice, popular with Hispanic parents. Beatriz is currently a Top 10 girl name in Portugal.
 
The original Latin form of the name, Beatrix, was in early sources spelled Viatrix, meaning "voyager". They may have been two commonly-confused names, or the spelling could have been deliberately changed to resemble the Latin word beatus, "blessed". Either way, there is room for both meanings in this name's rich history.

Beatriz

Everything ella, from Ella to Bella to Arabella, is red hot right now. Bella is one of the most, well, beautiful <a href="https://nameberry.com/search/girls-names/b">girl names starting with B</a>. It carried a hint of a nice Old World grandmotherly veneer, until it became attached to Twilight's Bella Swan. 
Bella derived as a diminutive of Isabella and other names with the suffix -bella, such as Anabella and Arabella, but has a meaning all its own: beautiful.That's because Bella is related to the word for "beautiful" in languages including Spanish, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, and Greek. Belle means "beautiful" in French.
 
If you're thinking of naming your daughter Bella, be aware that there are a lot of little girls whose proper names are Isabella, Arabella etc. who are called Bella, so you may hear the name more frequently than you'd guess judging by popularity statistics.
 In pre-Twilight literature, Bella Wilfer is the central character in Charles Dickens's Our Mutual Friend.
 Mark Ruffalo, Billy Bob Thornton, David Boreanaz and Eddie Murphy are all dads to Bellas. A strong feminist namesake is Bella Abzug. One current Bella is child star turned pop star Bella Thorne, born Annabella.
 Bella was in use as far back as the thirteenth century, then disappeared until the eighteenth when it became fashionable. 
 Today, Bella is among the <a href="https://nameberry.com/popular-names/dogs">most popular dog names</a>.

Bella

A name with a surprising amount of history--it was the name of the wife of Ptolemy I of Egypt, occurs in the New Testament, and belonged to a fourth century saint.  In the US, it has long been spelled and pronounced Bernice.  Nicknames include Bernie, Berry, Binnie and Bunny.

Berenice

This Elizabeth nickname has a decidedly retro feel--think Betsy Ross and the Betsy Wetsy doll-- once seen as a perkier, younger-sounding alternative to Betty. But with Betty on the brink of a comeback, pigtailed Betsy could return as well.
 Betsy's height of popularity was from the forties to the sixties, when she was likely to be the radio, film or TV teenaged daughter.
Betsy, spelled Betsey, was a Dickens favorite, appearing in both David Copperfield (in which Aunt Betsey had wanted David to be named after her had he been a girl) and The Pickwick Papers.

Betsy

The remarkable success of the girls' name Everly makes a revival of the name Beverly seem possible. More commonly a masculine name in the 19th century, it began to be used for girls in the early 1900s, reaching #14 ion the <a href="https://nameberry.com/popular-names">popular names list</a> in 1937. Inspirations: Beverly Johnson was the first African-American model to appear on the cover of Vogue, Beverly Sills was a major American soprano, Beverly Cleary authored the beloved 'Ramona' books, and Beverly Goldberg is the beloved TV matriarch of 'The Goldbergs'.

Beverly

You know who Beyonce is. One of the most famous people in the world. When she was born, her name was truly unique; it was a riff on her mom's maiden name, Biyence, with an accent over the final e. Though we traditionally think of beloved celebrities boosting the popularity of their names, outlandish mononyms like Rihanna and Madonna often do the exact opposite, because they become so closely associated with their bearer that they sound strange on anyone else. Yet in this category, as in so many others, Beyonce is an unusual case. When she first rose to fame in Destiny's Child, she inspired many imitators -- 353 baby girls born in the U.S. in 2001 were named Beyonce, enough to make it the 700th most popular name that year. But that was the peak. As Beyonce's star rose (and once she started dropping the her last name, Knowles), her name started to lose favor with parents. In 2016, just six newborns in the U.S. were named Beyonce. And the following year, the name dropped off the popularity list altogether, meaning it was given to fewer than five children. There's only room for one. Major Beyonce fans who want to honor their favorite artist with a baby name might want to consider her middle name, Giselle, her sister's name, Solange, or even her sometime nom de guerre Sasha.

Beyonce

Bianca, the livelier Italian and Shakespearean version of Blanche, has been chosen by many American parents since the 1990s, just as Blanca is a favorite in the Spanish-speaking community. Its meaning of white relates to snow, making it one of the prime <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/89/winter-baby-names">names for winter babies</a>.
 Miss Bianca was an elegant mouse (voiced by Eva Gabor) in Disney's 1977 The Rescuers, and Bianca features as a character in two Shakespeare plays, Othello and The Taming of the Shrew, not to mention its musical offshoot, Kiss Me Kate.
 Bianca was brought to prominence here by the first Mrs. Mick Jagger. Her name entered the U.S. popularity ranks in 1973, reaching a high of Number 84 in 1990. Bianca was chosen for her daughter by actress Tia Carrere.

Bianca

Bianka

More colorful than Blanche, but blanker than Bianca. 

Blanca

The alcohol-laced member of the Randy-Candy-Mandy sorority of 1970s to 80s nickname names; now pretty much on the wagon. 

Brandy

First the heroine of Sir Walter Scott's 1822 novel The Pirate, then a glamorous 1940s debutante, then the troubled twin on Beverly Hills 90210, and now fading in favor of more modern Brenna, Briana, and Bryn. Much more likely to be worn by a mother or grandmother these days. The song "Brenda's Got a Baby" was late rap megastar Tupac's debut single.

Brenda

Spelled this way, Briana was coined by Edmund Spenser for his great literary work, The Faerie Queene, which gives the now-overexposed name a far classier pedigree than it's usually credited with. 

Brianna is currently the most popular feminine form of Brian in the US, given to three times as many baby girls as Briana. Depending on your viewpoint, that may be a vote either for or against the more unique Briana spelling, though whichever version you choose is sure to prompt confusion over spelling and pronunciation.

One enduring appeal of Briana and sisters is that they're <a href="https://nameberry.com/list/96/girl-names-that-mean-brave-or-powerful">girl names that mean strong, brave, or powerful</a>, which may be why George R. R. Martin names his warrior maiden Brienne of Tarth.

Briana

Brianna's popularity in the US came later than father name Brian's, peaking in the 1990s, two decades after Brian's Top 10 reign of the 1970s.

But Brianna is more popular than Brian now, along with sister name Briana even taking a slight upward turn recently. That fresh sheen might be credited to Brienne of Tarth, a warrior-heroine of Game of Thrones.

Though it sounds like it might be a modern invention, the name actually appeared as far back as the sixteenth century in Edmund Spenser's poem The Faerie Queen. And Brian goes back a lot further, to Irish high king Brian Boru's reign around the year 1000.

Brianna

Brigitte is the French version of the ancient Irish Brighid long associated with 1950s sex symbol Brigitte Bardot. If you want to pronounce Brigitte the French way, it's brih-ZHEET.

Brigitte

Britany

Brithany

This abbreviated spelling, which also relates to Whitney, quickly took on a life of its own, thanks to the megafame of Britney Spears, but it's already beginning to burn out. 

Britney

Brittany first arrived on the US popularity list in 1971, and rapidly zoomed up the charts, in the Top 100 a decade later. By 1986 it had entered the Top 10, becoming the third most popular <a href="https://nameberry.com/girls-names">girls’ name</a> in the country by 1989. After such immense popularity, there has been a steep decline, but it remains a name evocative of one of the most beautiful and culturally interesting areas of France -- and much preferable to the contracted Britney.

Brittany evolved as a modern coinage from the ancient French duchy Bretagne. Celtic Bretons emigrated from France to become the Bretons of English; later the name Britain came to signify the country.

Brittany

More of the seemingly infinite variations of this name. 

Bryana

A confusing looking name—is it BRY-anna or BREE-anna? There are other feminine variants of Bryan/Brian which look less made up, such as Brianna and Breanna. We recommend looking into those choices to avoid pronunciation issues.

Bryanna

Brendaliz

Brianelys

Brihanna

jevohh's list "Puerto Rican Girl names beginning with B" of 24 great name ideas: Barbara - Brihanna!