Barry (name) Barry (name) Barry is both a given name and a surname. The given name is an Anglicised form of several Irish personal names, while the surname has numerous etymological origins, and is derived from both place names and personal names. The given name "Barry" is derived from Gaelic, possibly being an Anglicised form of the personal name Báire, which is a short form of the related Irish names "Bairrfhionn" or "Barrfind" ("fair-headed", "fair-haired"). and "Finbar", or "Fionnbharr" ("fair-topped", "fair-haired"). For example, "Barry" is sometimes derived from the Irish "Bairre", "Barra", and "Barre", which are in turn forms of the name
Irish name are better known by their Irish name than by their English name: Irish name A formal Irish-language personal name consists of a given name and a surname. Surnames in Irish are generally patronymic in etymology, although they are no longer literal patronyms, as Icelandic names are. The form of a surname varies according to whether its bearer is male or female and in the case of a married woman, whether she chooses to adopt her husband's surname. An alternative traditional naming convention consists of the first name followed by a double patronym, usually with the father and grandfather's names. This