Daily AncestorBarber
A barber cut men's hair and shaved or trimmed their beards for pay, usually in a barbershop; in earlier centuries barbers also did surgery and pulled teeth.
Historically all hairdressers were counted as barbers; in the 1900s cosmetology split off as a separate trade. Barbershops have long been places of talk and public debate as well as grooming.
The 1900 census named barber or hairdresser among the service occupations to be written down exactly, so both words appear in returns. When an older record joins barber and surgeon, see barber-surgeon.
As seen in a recordOccupation column of the 1850 to 1940 census
Jas. Hobart, 40, Barber
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Barber." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/occupations/barber. Last checked 2026-10-10.