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I know someone who goes by Barney and I don’t mind it. I don’t know when the nickname started but I’ve known him as Barney ever since we first met 14 years ago. It stems from his last name which is Barnes.

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His first name is a fairly nondescript average name for the time so I have wondered in the past if there was another boy with the same first name in his class at school and so he was known by his last name to tell them apart.

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He and the purple dinosaur are the first things that spring to mind.

Maybe for a dog, but no way on a human.

Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination.
And when he’s tall he’s what we call a dinosaur sensation.

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I can’t seem to separate the name from the character.

It seems goofy, for multiple reasons (I think of Barney Fife 1st, and then barns, blarney, the dinosaur), but also seems potentially good-natured.

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It's a little easier for me to take Barnaby (or Bernie or Byron) seriously, although I'd probably pick Barney over a name like Flannery, Bart, or Hudson.

This message was edited 11/27/2021, 1:51 AM

Best suited to a middle-aged bus driver. And I find Barnabas very pompous, but I like Barnaby a lot.

I love you, you love me, we’re a happy family with a great big hug, and a kiss from me to you, won’t you say you love me too?

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It just reminds me of the dinosaur. It’s not horrible, but it fits an animal best.

Good for a pet. However, it is way too associated with an obnoxious purple dinosaur to be used on a human, unless you are trying to make said human a subject of teasing and ridicule.

OK for a pet

I don't like it much. It is dated slang for an argument in the UK.

it's a big purple dinosaur ...

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An intensely annoying purple dinosaur at that.
Beyond that it sounds like a dog's name, or a early-1900's comic-book-doofus's name.