Family Chronicle reflects a British origin of the Barnes surname meaning  "Of the barn (originally 'barley house')."

The Scottish Surnames book by David Dorward states this surname is more common in England and sometimes comes from Barnes in Surrey, England, although unspecified barn in any part of the kingdom could give rise to this surname.  There was also a parish of the name Barnes in Aberdeenshire, Scotland (possibly from Gaelic Bearn).  

The House of Names site reflects the following spelling variations: Barnes, Barns, Barnis, Bernys, Bernes, Berner, and others.

I have traced my Barnes line back to John Barnes born about 1796 and was of the Hempfeild Township,  Westmoreland Co., Pennsylvania.  I'm am a descendant of his son James Barnes who settled in Rushville Twp, Schuyler Co., Illinois prior to 1860.  To learn more about this Barnes line, click on the 'My Barnes History' button below.

I am descendant to John Barnes through my mom's line and through my dad's line I'm descendant of Samuel Barnes born 1773 in North Carolina.  To learn more about my Samuel Barnes line, click on the 'My MO Barnes Family' button below.

Both of my Barnes lines are represented in the Barnes DNA Surname Project.  To learn more about this project, click on the 'Barnes DNA Project' below.  Consider joining this project, if you are a male with the last name of Barnes.

My Barnes genealogy data on this site is work in progress, so please contact me if you have any information that might help me in my research.  Not all data on my site has been proven by myself, so please just use this data as a spring board for your research and let me know if you believe my data is incorrect.

Please contact me if you are related to one of my Barnes lines, I love hearing from new cousins.