Barry is an Irish name, an anglicized form of Bairre or Barra, the pet form of Fionnbharr, which means "fair-headed"; it also absorbed the Welsh surname from ap Harry, "son of Harry". Barry White and Barry Manilow made it a star name of the 1970s. In the United States Barry ranked number 677 in 2000, has been outside the top 1000 for the whole of the last decade and stands at number 1520 in 2025.