This article looks at how common Barry is as a last name in Ireland and the United States from the 19th century to the present day.
You’ll learn the meaning and origins of the Barry surname while exploring some notable and famous people that held it.
I use census records, emigration lists, and military archives to uncover fascinating patterns. If you’re studying your genealogy, check out my sources at the end of the post so you can do your own research.
How Common Is Barry As A Surname In Ireland?
Ireland does not disclose current statistics on surnames in much detail. The most that we get is the top ten last names in birth registrations for the previous year. Barry isn’t common enough to get a top spot!
However, an Irish genealogist studied the top one hundred surname numbers in Ireland between 1992 and 1997. Seán Murphy based his research on telephone books. This isn’t as accurate as a census but gives a good approximation.
Barry was ranked 72 in the top one hundred names in this decade with a total of 11,400 entries.
This graphic shows how it ranks compared to the 1st, 33rd, 66th, and 100th entries in the survey:
Barry In The Early 1900s
The Irish have historically emigrated to Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia. They were motivated by multiple factors, including social unrest, economic desperation, and hunger.
The largest wave of emigration to the United States occurred during the 19th century. The peak was in response to the Great Irish Famine, which took place between 1845 and 1852. A plant disease devastated the main food and income crop for much of the population.
So, let’s focus on the early 1900s.
I used online archives to calculate the total numbers by surname. I consider these estimates due to some percentage of transcription errors. So, I’ve rounded the numbers to the nearest fifty.
There were 7,400 residents named Barry on the island in 1911.
Ten years earlier, Barry had about 9,500 residents in the 1901 census.
Population Estimates In The 1890s
A study of Irish surnames was conducted in 1890 by the head of the Civil Registrations Office. It was published as a “Special Report on Surnames In Ireland.”
The survey estimated that there were about 9,700 people named Barry in the country.
Emigration To America After The Irish Famine
The Irish have historically emigrated to Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia. They were motivated by multiple factors, including social unrest, economic desperation, and hunger.
The largest wave of emigration to the United States occurred during the 19th century. The peak was in response to the Great Irish Famine, which took place between 1845 and 1852. A plant disease devastated the main food and income crop for much of the population.
I studied the Barry name in the shipping passenger lists arriving in New York during this period. The departures were from both Ireland and England.
This picture shows how the numbers rose and fell in the years after the famine:
Estimating Rank In The United States
The United States publishes high-level details from the 2010 census that includes the totals of surnames with over one hundred bearers.
I reviewed the list to identify which names are predominantly Irish in origin to provide an estimate of the rankings of Irish names in the United States.
Historically, some Irish families with Gaelic surnames took English-sounding names as translations under the influence of colonization.
As these names also have English origins, they will have been brought to the United States by both British and Irish immigrants. Because the census doesn’t ask about specific European origin (e.g. England vs Ireland), it’s impossible to identify the proportion with Irish heritage.
For the purpose of this website, I’ve mostly excluded names that have varying origins when considering “Irish” names in the U.S. censuses.
With that explanation out of the way, let’s look at how Barry ranks in America.
How Common Is Barry As A Last Name In The United States?
Based on the 2010 U.S. census, the name Barry ranks about 738 among Irish names in America with 47,274 bearers.
Barry In Historic Census Years
In a country as young as the United States, tracking the popularity of a surname over time can be fascinating. This reflects other demographic shifts across the country in addition to immigration. Higher child mortality rates and longer life expectancy are just two factors.
The historic census records have been transcribed and digitized. I used online archives to run counts of surname populations.
But the totals can’t be exactly accurate due to transcription errors. So, I’ve rounded the numbers to the nearest 50 in the graph below.
This picture shows the numbers every twenty years from 1860 to 1940.
These are the numbers in the graph:
- 1860: 7,900
- 1880: 15,450
- 1900: 21,250
- 1920: 25,350
- 1940: 30,550
Barry In World War II
During World War Two, approximately 8.3 million men and women joined the ranks of the United States Army. Many were of Irish descent. Some had even been born in Ireland and emigrated.
I found registration records for 1,709 soldiers named Barry who enlisted between 1938 and 1946.
There were 26 who were born in Ireland.
Barry Surname: Meaning And Origin
The Irish surname Barry is an anglicized form of the Gaelic name “O Baire”. This translates to “descendant of Baire”. The personal name Baire has several origins i.e. different families took the name for different reasons.
One meaning comes from the Gaelic word for a spear(bearach), which would have been taken by soldiers. Another origin came later from the Norman Invasion in the 12th century. The descendants of the Norman knight William de Barry established the O’Barry name in Cork.
Patrick Woulfe, an early Irish scholar, wrote that it is a shortened form of the name Fionnbharr (Finbar), which means fair-headed.
Famous Or Historic People Named Barry
Here are some notable people with the family name:
- John Wolfe Barry (1836-1918): English civil engineer who built Tower Bridge, one of the most famous bridges in London. His father, Charles Barry, was also a noted architect.
- Edward Barry (1849-1938): American naval officer who rose to Rear Admiral and was Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific Fleet.
- Alice Barry (1880-1955): pioneering female Irish doctor who founded a children’s hospital in Dublin and ran several sanatoriums for TB.
- Kevin Barry (1902-1920): a young Irish medical student who fought against British forces in the Irish War of Independence. His execution in his teens sparked national and international outrage.
Sources
External Research
The Ireland 1990s estimates are from Seán J. Murphy’s research paper.
The population estimates of 1890 are based on the “Special Report on Surnames in Ireland“, published in 1909.
The population figures for the 2010 U.S. Census come from a file provided by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Internal Research
Some of the population numbers are based on my own research and calculations using online archives. I’ve rounded those numbers to the nearest 50 to account for transcription errors and other technical issues with online databases of this type.
The Irish census estimates for 1901 and 1911 are my calculations based on the Irish National Archives
I plotted the emigration figures from 1845 to 1854 based on calculations from the archives of the New York Passenger Lists (1820-1957).