Barney is a masculine given name, often a short form (hypocorism) of Barnard, Barnett and other names, and occasionally a nickname. It is also derived from the Slavic name Barni, the pet form of Barnim, which means "defender", and it was formerly a popular name throughout Poland. Notable people with the name include:
- Barney Aaron (1800–1859), English-born American Hall of Fame lightweight bare-knuckle boxer
- Young Barney Aaron (1836–1907), English-born American bare-knuckle boxer; son of Barney Aaron
- Barney Barnato (1851–1897), British mining entrepreneur born Barnet Isaacs, one of those who gained control of diamond, and later gold, mining in South Africa
- Barney Clark (died 1983), first human recipient of an artificial heart
- Barney Corse (1799–1878), American abolitionist
- Barney M. Giles (1892–1984), US Army Air Forces lieutenant general
- Barney Hill (1922–1969), American who, with his wife, claimed to have been kidnapped by aliens
- Barney F. Hajiro (1916–2011), US Army soldier awarded the Medal of Honor
- Barney Kessel (1923–2004), American jazz guitarist
- Barney Lebrowitz (1891–1949), better known as "Battling Levinsky", American Hall-of-Fame world champion light heavyweight boxer
- Barney Martin (1923–2005), American actor
- Barney McCosky (1917–1996), Major League Baseball outfielder
- Barney Pelty (1880–1939), American Major League Baseball player
- Barney Poole (1923–2005), National Football League player
- Barney Ross (1909–1967), American Hall-of-Fame world champion boxer born Dov-Ber Rasofsky
- Barney Sedran (1891–1964), American Hall-of-Fame basketball player
- Barney Visser (born 1949), NASCAR team owner
- Barney E. Warren (1867–1951), American Christian hymnwriter and minister
- Bernard Barney Berlinger (1908–2002), American decathlete
- Bernard Barney Carr (Gaelic footballer) (1923–2021), Irish Gaelic football player and manager
- Barnett Barney Danson (1921–2011), Canadian politician and cabinet minister
- Bernhard Barney Dreyfuss (1865–1932), owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team
- Barnett Barney Frank (born 1940), American former politician
- Barnaby Barney Harwood (born 1979), British actor and television presenter
- Bernard Barney Herbert (1889–1949), Australian rules footballer
- Bernard Barney Hudson (1906–1971), English rugby union and rugby league footballer
- Bernard Barney McKenna (1939–2012), Irish musician and a founding member of The Dubliners
- Berna Barney Oldfield (1878–1946), American automobile racer and pioneer
- Barnet Barney Rosset (1922–2012), owner of Grove Press, and publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Evergreen Review
- Bernard Barney Wilen (1937–1996), French saxophonist
- Barney Bigard (1906–1980), American jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist
- Barney Carr (1897–1971), Australian rules footballer
- Barney Chapman (1939-2020), Texan Dairy Queen owner and rancher
- Barney Greenway (born 1969), British extreme metal vocalist
- Barney McCallum (1926–2019), given name David Brace McCallum, coinventor of the racket sport pickleball
- Barney Roos (1888–1960), American automotive engineer, co-designer of the Willys MB Jeep
- Raymond van Barneveld (born 1967), Dutch professional darts player
Fictional characters
[edit]
- Barney the Dinosaur, title character of Barney & Friends, a children's TV show about a singing purple dinosaur host, formerly a sometimes singing blue dinosaur host in the early pilot video series of Barney & the Backyard Gang consisting three-part episodes from 1980s.
- Barney Barton, older brother and arch-enemy of the superhero Hawkeye in the Marvel Comics universe
- Barney Bear, the title character of the 1939-1954 animated shorts Barney Bear
- Barney Calhoun, a playable character in Half-Life: Blue Shift and a major character in the Half-Life 2 series
- Barney Collier, from the original Mission: Impossible TV series, and the 1988 revival, portrayed by Greg Morris
- Barney Cousins, fictional kidnapper from the 1993 movie The Vanishing
- Barney Fife, from The Andy Griffith Show
- Barney Google, a comic strip character in Barney Google and Snuffy Smith
- Barney Gumble, from The Simpsons
- Barney Martin, a wandering circus boy The Barney Mystery Series of children's books by Enid Blyton
- Barney Miller, a police captain in the TV show Barney Miller
- Barney Ross, the leader of The Expendables
- Barney Rubble, from The Flintstones
- Barney Stinson, from the CBS television series How I Met Your Mother, portrayed by Neil Patrick Harris
- Barney Stockman, from the 1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated TV series
- Barney, a sheepdog in the short-lived British animated children's TV series Barney