It's my name. I earned it. It's Celtic for spear.

Truth be told, I was named after Barry Goldwater, erstwhile presidential candidate. My mom worked on his campaign back in '64, about the time I came along. You can guess the rest. For a Hawk, he's not a complete jerk -- my mom told him she'd named her newly-adopted son after him so he sent me an autographed coffeetable book of some his black and white photos of Arizona.
roundtable@babynamer.com. Return to list Barry Roundtable Here is what several people named Barry tell us about having the name. (If you have a comment, click here.) * * * Barry 1: Barry isn't the greatest of names but after 44 years, one tends to get used to it. At least it isn't a real popular name, making it different than the typical John, Jim, Tom, etc. Barry 2: I'm 58 years old. When I was a little kid, Barry was an unusual name, at least in Iowa. On the first day of school in second grade, my teacher refused to believe it was my name, even when all my classmates vouched for me. I don't like the name but I don't think most people like their names. I don't hate it either. I have always wondered why I wasn't named John. My paternal great grandfather was named John, my maternal grandfather was named John, and my father's best friend was named John. Maybe my folks were tired of the name. My personal and biased opinion is you can find all the names you need in the Bible as well as lot of them you probably don't need. Explaining that no, it's not Larry or Gary or Jerry, does get tedious for a kid. Barry 3: Barry is a very strong name. The B and R sounds have a sort of growl to them but the "ee" sound at the end softens it. Barry is a great name because there're very few teases possible. I wish I could say that for my last name. I had a girlfriend from the Philippines once who called me Ba-wee and my friends did that for a while but it never caught on. I know Barry is an Irish name but my name is a diminutive of the Hebrew name, Barook, meaning "blessed," like in the phrase "God Bless." Barook itself comes from the Hebrew word, "berek," meaning "knee" because supplications are made on bended knee. The English name Benedict or "benediction," is closer to the actual translation of Barook. Barry 4: Oh boy, did I get teased when I was young! I like my name. I don't love my name. Barry 5: I like my name but as a child, I did get teased a bit. I would hear "Barry, Barry, quite contrary," and "Barry had a little lamb," all that. Luckily, I was always bigger than most of my classmates so they quickly learned that they could not tease me. As an adult, the name Barry does not command as much "business respect" as I would like. That may be changing as the standard business names become less common. Barry 6: I was known as blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, dingleberry (loved that one...NOT), blueberry and, in my teens in the late 1960s and early 1970s, mescalberry, a drug culture reference. On the other hand, at around the same time, I became acquainted with the music of Barry White, whom I've admired since. So that lessened the sting somewhat. And the jibes passed with my adolescence. As an adult, I've become acquainted with some famous and infamous Barrys in history and current times as well, such as the Irish nationalist/patriot/martyr Kevin Barry. In both Ireland and the British Isles, Barry is a common Christian name for a lad and is quite upperclass-sounding to most. Given that my ethnic background is English, Irish and Scottish, it has become a good fit, one of which I am proud. When I was born, my mother wanted to name me Terry, while my father was steadfastly in favor of Barry. Since my father had no other children and I had three half-siblings by my mother, Mom relented. Barry 7: I like my name, "spear," with implications of being sharp, Freudian overtones and all. Kids don't know that though. They think fruit. Even some ignorant adults I know well think my name is Berry. Barry gets shortened to Bear, which is okay, as it implies archetypal power and strength simultaneous with gentleness (teddy bears). Overall, I like my name. Barry 8: It hasn't ever given me any problems and Barry is a fairly common name in Australia. But it is often bastardized as Bazza, a common Australian habit. My Celtic antecedents are pretty complete as my father was Welsh and half of my mother's ancestry came from Ireland. I think the name is less common in the US. I didn't call my only child Barry but, as she is a female, that is probably just as well. It's a pretty unexceptional name as far as my experience goes. Barry 9: Barry is fairly common in Australia, so there is no big deal about it. In Australia, it is often shortened to Baz or Bazza. This depends on your personality. I am not a Bazza, which has overtones of beer-swilling, large-gutted males. I do not drink beer. I also do not have a large gut. When I was younger, a movie was released called The Adventures of Bazza MacKenzie, which was a comedy spoof about a hapless Australian getting into trouble in 1970s London. For a short while, Barrys were considered to be hapless fools getting drunk and being stupid, hence the overtones of "Bazza" here in Australia. This movie is now old and this image has faded somewhat. But the beer-drinking overtones of Bazza remain. As I mentioned above, not all Barrys are Bazzas. Thus there are those beer-drinking types who are Bazzas and would have been large-gutted and beer-drinkers if they were Bruces--and there are Barrys who are just ordinary folks. In summary, being a Barry is no different than being Bruce. And as long as I, as a male, am not named Brenda, I have no problems. I would recommend it. It is not too common but it is not uncommon enough so as to cause problems, at least in Australia. Barry 10: I like being named Barry. It's a normal name (i.e., no teasing), yet not so common that I have to turn around a lot when another Barry is being called. I'd strongly recommend the name Barry to a parent. In Hebrew, I believe that Barry also means "blessed." If you consider the Celtic and Hebrew meanings together, the name has an interesting duality. Do you have any comments about the name Barry? Please e-mail us at roundtable@babynamer.com.
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