Barry Name and DNA Study

Profile managers: Dorothy Barry [send private message], One Name Studies WikiTree [send private message], and Jay Barry [send private message]

About

• This is a One Name Study to collect together in one place everything about the surname Barry and its variants. The hope is that other researchers like you will join our study to help make it a valuable reference point for people studying lines that cross or intersect. Please contact the project leader, add categories to your profiles, add your questions to the bulletin board, add details of your name research, etc.

Origins of the Barry Name

• The Irish Barry surname is most commonly considered to be of Anglo-Norman origin.  Among the Norman invaders who accompanied William the Conqueror was a nobleman who was granted estates in Wales for his service. These included Barri Island in Glamorgan. According to English-language sources, Barri Island, was named after the 6thcentury Welsh saint, Baruc and the Barry surname is derived from this location. But more recent, Continental European, sources indicate that the family name originated from the village of Barri, near Tournai in Flanders, the ancestral home of the Barrys who later came to England, Wales and Ireland. In the 12thcentury, descendants of this man, who were by then known by the surname deBarri, participated in the Norman-Welsh invasion of Ireland. The family name was Anglicized to Barry and initially was associated primarily with County Cork where several branches developed.  The best known of these were the Barry Mor (Great or Elder Barry)and Barry Roe (Red Barry), which were closely interrelated, and the Barry Og (Younger Barry).  In later centuries this Barry family dispersed throughout Ireland and its members can be found today in every county, as well as in North America, England, Australia, New Zealand and in every location of the Irish Diaspora.
  
  Other members of the Anglo-Norman family had variations on their names such as Barry Bhán/Barrivane (White Barry) and Barry Laidir (Strong Barry).  There were also compound names including the MacRobinson/MacRobston Barrys, the Mac James (FitzJames Barrys), the MacAdam Barrys and the Smith Barrys.
  
  Some descendants of the Anglo-Norman Barrys fled to France in the 15th century, adopting the surname DuBarry.   There are also men who trace their origins directly to the family's putative place of origin in Flanders.  Some of these men use the surname deBary or its variants. That name is found in many places in Northern Europe as well as in America. Other Barrys are native Irish, rather than Anglo-Norman in origin, having descended from O’Beara or O’Bearagh families.  In addition, some Barry families changed their name to Berry for various reasons. 

Resources

• List of Barrys on Wikitree

• G2G feed of questions tagged "Barry".

• Orphaned Barry profiles on WikiTree.

• Unsourced Grubstake profiles on WikiTree.

• Unconnected Barry profiles on WikiTree.

DNA Projects

• Barry DNA Project
  • The objectives of the Barry YDNA Project are to illuminate the origins and evolution of the Barry family and, by combining DNA with traditional genealogy, to assist members in researching their own Barry family histories. This is an open enrollment project, welcoming all men who have (or suspect that they may have) the Barry surname or any if its variants in their paternal lineage. Please visit our web site, above, for more detailed information on the project's goals, the history of the Barry surname, and our recommendations for DNA testing and other research. Please feel free to contact the administrator if you have questions.

• Earls of Barrymore DNA Project
  • The Barry Project at Family Tree DNA, in collaboration with University College Dublin, is pleased to announce the Earls of Barrymore DNA Project.  This is the first effort to do DNA testing on the remains of a member of the Irish nobility. For further information go to the project website.