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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • French : topographic name for someone who lived by a gateway or barrier, from Old French barre ‘bar’, ‘obstruction’ (of obscure origin, possibly akin to the Celtic element barr ‘height’), or a habitational name from Barre-en-Ouche in Eure or Barre-de-Semilly in Manche, both named with this word.

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