Family name origins & meanings
- French : nickname for someone with a beard, Old French barbe (Latin barba).
- French : from the female personal name, French form of Barbara.
- German : from Middle High German barbe, the name of a species of fish resembling the carp; hence by metonymy an occupational name for a fisherman or fish dealer, or possibly a nickname for someone thought to resemble the fish in some way.
- A man called Barbe, born in London, England, under the name <xref>Beard</xref>, is documented in Pointe-aux-Trembles, Quebec, in 1699. He was also known as Abel, Bear, and Buard.