Barba
A surname from the word for “beard,” often originally a nickname for a bearded man, though some bearers may come from place-names or saintly forms.
The #3,268 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 27,958 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Barba comes from Latin barba, meaning “beard.” In medieval records it could be used as a descriptive byname for a man with a beard, appearing in forms like cum Barba (“with the beard”) or Latinized as Barbatus. In some families, the surname may also have been influenced by local place-names or by devotional/saintly forms in southern Europe.
History
Medieval English records preserve several examples of cum Barba, showing that the name was in use as a descriptive surname by the 13th and 14th centuries. Continental Romance forms such as Barbaret, Barbarin, and Barbaroux show the same root spreading widely in southern Europe. In modern times Barba is especially common in Spanish- and Italian-speaking areas.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The medieval form cum Barba literally means “with the beard,” a vivid reminder that many surnames began as simple nicknames.
From the historical record
“This name was Latinized de Sancta Barba. SIMCOCK = Sim (q.v.) -f the E. pet sufi. ■cock. In the 14th cent, we find the forms”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)