Meaning and background
The story behind Barclay
Barclay is an established Scottish and English surname derived from Berkeley, an English place name. The older elements are generally read as Old English words for birch and a woodland clearing. Families carried the name into Scotland many centuries ago, so it has a substantial surname history of its own. The usual British pronunciation is two syllables, with a clear stress on the first.
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About Barclay
Recorded as a dog’s name
Barclay appears in 8 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/bɑɹkleɪ/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
Other dictionary readings and notation
/bɑɹkleɪ/ · primary stress on syllable 1B AA1 R K L EY2
/bɑɹkli/ · primary stress on syllable 1B AA1 R K L IY2
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.