Barrett

How to say it

/ˈbɛr.ət/

What it means

English surname from one of two roots: the Germanic personal name Berhart ('bear-strong') or the Old French baret ('quarrel, dispute'). Elizabeth Barrett Browning the Victorian poet is the literary anchor.

Barrett is an English surname from two competing roots. The dominant reading derives it from the Germanic personal name Berhart, a compound of bero ('bear') and hart ('strong, brave'), meaning 'bear-strong.' The alternate reading comes from the Old French baret ('quarrel, dispute'), originally a nickname for an argumentative person. Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861), the Victorian poet of Sonnets from the Portuguese ('How do I love thee? Let me count the ways'), is the deepest literary anchor through the surname. As a first name Barrett is American and modern: rare before 2000, then climbing. It entered the US top 500 in 2014. Syd Barrett (Pink Floyd's founding singer) gives the rock reference. Common short: Bear or Barre.

Heads-up notes

• Pop culture

  Elizabeth Barrett Browning is the deepest cultural anchor via the surname; Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd gives the rock reference; the first-name use is mostly post-2000.

Who's worn it

Historical figures, characters, and public faces who share the name. The cultural surface, for whatever weight you want to give it.

• Elizabeth Barrett Browning English Victorian poet, 1806-1861
• Syd Barrett English musician, founding singer of Pink Floyd

Spelling variants

• Barret
• Barrat

Names with the same feeling

• Bennett Blessed
• Beckett Bee cottage, or 'small stream'
• Everett Brave boar
• Hudson Son of Hudd
• Wyatt Brave in war

See Barrett from another angle