Barbu

The origin of the surname Barbu

Barbu comes from barbă, “beard.”

What kind of surname is Barbu?

As a descriptive surname (or nickname name), the surname Barbu arose from a personal characteristic — a physical trait, a quality of temperament, or a distinguishing feature of its first bearer. Communities have always coined nicknames, and in the age before fixed surnames these vivid, affectionate or teasing labels — referring to hair colour, stature, complexion or character — frequently became hereditary. Descriptive surnames give an unusually human glimpse of an ancestor, hinting at how they looked or how they were regarded by the people around them.

How Romanian surnames work

Romanian surnames are often patronymic, most recognisably through the ending “-escu” (“son/descendant of”), as in Popescu, “son of the priest”; the ending “-eanu” typically marks where a family came from. Others derive from occupations, the Orthodox church (Popa, “priest,” is very common) or descriptive nicknames.