Male first name (English): Barney, Aramaic (Old Testament), bar = the son; naba = speak prophetic, Greek form of an Aramaic first name, its meaning is not clear safely, possibly the son of the prophet 'or' son of consolation '; in the Bible, Barnabas is the nickname of a companion of the Apostle Paul Male first name (English): Barney, Old High (two-part name); bero = the bear, brown; harti = hard, strong, firm, resolute; Bernu = the bear (German dialect); old German two-part name, in the Middle Ages spread through the veneration of St.. Bernard of Clairvaux (11-12 cent.)