I know a
Barbara who's about 19 (her combo is
Barbara Rose), and I've always thought it fit her very oddly - she doesn't seem like a person who's
not a
Barbara, necessarily, just one who's...not one yet, maybe? She just seems too young for it. I think
Barbara in full is a million times better than (and also dates better than)
Barb or
Barbie, both of which I find horrifying.
I dunno, I feel like
Barbara is too "old" for a college student, so I definitely can't see it fitting a baby, personally.
Barbara Ann has a pretty retro feel to it, and I think it'd be waaaaay nicer than
Madison or
Brooklyn or whatever, but I can't really dig it. It's one of those names where if I saw it in a BA, I'd think, "I admire what you did there...but as a matter of personal taste, that is so not the route I would have taken away from the trendy, popular, oh-so-tiresome stuff."