Family name origins & meanings
- Hungarian (Barabás), Polish (Barabasz or Barabaś), Czech and Slovak (Barabáš), and Spanish (Bar(r)abás) : from the New Testament personal name Barabas (Greek Barabbas) ‘son of Aba’. This was the name borne by the thief whose life was demanded by the crowd in Jerusalem in preference to that of Jesus (Matthew 27:15–21). In central Europe it was sometimes adopted as a personal name by a repentant sinner.