Barnes

See also: barnes

English

Etymology

• As an English surname, from the place on the bank of the Thames, derived from the root of the noun barn.
• Also as an English surname, variant of Barne, from both a Middle English personal name from Old Norse Bjǫrn and Old English Beorn, and from the noun barn (“child”). Semantically compare Child.
• As an Irish surname, Anglicized from Ó Bearáin (literally “descendant of Bearán”), a byname from bior (“spear”).
• As a French surname, variant of Bernes, from a short form of a Germanic name derived from Frankish *berō (“bear”), similar to Bernhard.
• As a Jewish surname, variant of Parnes, from Yiddish פּרנס (prns), from Hebrew פַּרְנָס (“leader of a Jewish community, provider”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bɑː(ɹ)nz/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bɑɹnz/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)nz
• Homophone: barns

Proper noun

Barnes (countable and uncountable, plural Barneses)

1. A surname.
   • 2025 September 6, Jonathan Turley, “Tim Kaine’s Constitutional blasphemy”, in The Hill‎^[1]:

     Riley Barnes, nominated to serve as assistant secretary of State for democracy, human rights and labor, revealed his dangerous proclivities to Kaine in his opening statement when he said that “all men are created equal because our rights come from God, our creator; not from our laws, not from our governments.”

   1. An English toponymic surname transferred from the common noun for someone who owned, lived in, or worked in a barn.
   2. A habitational surname from Middle English for someone from the place of the same name in Surrey.
2. A placename
   1. A suburb of London in the borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London, England, originally a town in Surrey (OS grid ref TQ2276).
   2. An inner suburb and ward in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England (approx OS grid ref NZ3856).
   3. A minor city in Washington County, Kansas, United States.
   4. A small town in the far south of the Riverina, New South Wales, Australia.

Derived terms

• Barnes Bay
• Barnes County
• Barnes Hill
• Barnes Opening
• Barnesville
• Davis-Barnes effect
• West Barnes

Anagrams

• Abners, Berans, Bernas, NBAers, Nabers, barens, branes, brasen