Finbarra as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Finbarra

What is the meaning of the name Finbarra ?

The baby name Finbarra is a Male name , 3 syllables long and is pronounced FIN-bar-uh (IPA: /ˈfɪn.bɑː.rə/).

Finbarra is Irish in Origin.

Finbarra is the Anglicized-Irish form of Fionnbarra/Fionnbharr, from Old Irish fionn “fair, white” + barr “head, top (of hair),” yielding the meaning “fair‑headed” or “fair‑haired.” The element barr also denotes summit or excellence, giving a poetic sense of “fair-topped” or “of noble fairness.”

The name is closely linked to Saint Finbarr (6th–7th century), patron of Cork, whose monastery helped found the city; his cult cemented the name’s prominence across Munster and in Irish ecclesiastical records. Usage declined under English influence but revived with the 19th–20th‑century Gaelic renaissance and remains most familiar in Cork, with occasional use in Britain and the diaspora. Established variants include Fionnbarra, Fionnbharr, Finbar, Finbarr, and Finnbar; short forms Barra and Barry developed as everyday or Anglicized options, though Barry also has independent origins.

⚙ We have no record of Finbarra in any national birth registry or name dataset. It's the kind of name that tends to be rare, regional, or newly made up. However you look at it, very few people share it.