Meaning & History
Derogatory nickname from barbera ‘barber’s wife’, a term also used to denote a prostitute or dishonest woman. Catalan (Barberà): habitational name from a place in Tarragona province, named with Late Latin Barbarianum ‘place of Barbarius’, a derivative of Barbarus (see Barbaro). Also spelled for one of the creators and founders of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Joseph Rolland "Joe" Barbera (1911-2006).