Barrett

Barrett is the 325th most common surname in the United States, shared by 96,872 people at the 2020 census. That is about one person in 3,085.

By the numbers

People: 96,872
Rank: 325th
How common: 1 in 3,085
Per 100,000: 32.4

Where the name comes from

Origin Anglo-Norman

From the Irish surname converged from several origins, including Barόid, Bairéid, Middle English Baraud (“quarrelsome”) from Old English, and Norman Baraud, from Old French barat (“trickery, deception”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who bears the name

How people with the surname Barrett described their own race and Hispanic origin at the 2020 census:

White, not Hispanic 77.5%
Black, not Hispanic 13.5%
Two or more races, not Hispanic 3.9%
Hispanic or Latino 3.7%
Asian or Pacific Islander, not Hispanic 0.8%
American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic 0.6%

Notable people called Barrett

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–1861)English poet
Syd Barrett (1946–2006)British musician
Amy Coney Barrett (born 1972)American lawyer and jurist
Majel Barrett (1932–2008)American actress
Wade Barrett (born 1980)British professional wrestler
Jacinda Barrett (born 1972)Australian actress
Brigetta Barrett (born 1990)high jumper from the United States
RJ Barrett (born 2000)Canadian basketball player

People named Barrett with articles in the most Wikipedia languages. Data from Wikidata (CC0).

Surnames like Barrett

Also a first name

Barrett has been given to 34,417 American babies as a first name since 1886, peaking in 2025. See it as a given name.

Try it on yourself

Source: US Census Bureau, Frequently Occurring Surnames, 2020. The Census describes the file as the surnames borne by 100 or more people; rarer names are not published. The line is not quite exact, and 617 published names come in under it, the smallest at 92 people. Race and Hispanic origin are self-reported. Rates are worked out against the 298.9 million people the file's own figures are calculated on, which is fewer than the census counted in all: the difference is everyone whose surname was too rare to publish.