Barbara
BAR-bə-rə
A classic saint’s name meaning “foreign woman” or “one of another country.”
Meaning
Barbara comes from the Greek word barbaros, taken into Latin as barbarus, meaning “foreign” or “one of another country.” In the excerpted 19th-century source, it is explicitly glossed as a Latin female name signifying “one of another country.” The name later became especially associated with Saint Barbara, one of the great virgin saints in Christian tradition.
Origin
GreekLatinfeminine
Fun fact
The nickname “Bab” is noted in the excerpted source.
Confidence: sourced. Sources: History of Christian Names, Praenomina; or, the etymology of the principal Christian names of Great Britain and Ireland.