barack

Barack is a masculine given name used in several cultures. In modern times it is most widely associated with Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States, and with Barack Obama Sr., his father, a Kenyan economist.

Barack Hussein Obama II was born August 4, 1961, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr. He studied at Occidental College, earned a degree from Columbia University in 1983, and received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1991.

Obama worked as a community organizer in Chicago, taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago, and served in the Illinois State Senate from 1997 to 2004 and the U.S. Senate from 2005 to 2008. He was elected president in 2008 and served two terms from 2009 to 2017.

His presidency included the passage of the Affordable Care Act, financial reform through the Dodd–Frank Act, and the repeal of the don’t ask, don’t tell policy for military service. He authorized the operation that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011 and supported the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Iran nuclear deal framework in 2015. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. Since leaving office, he and his wife, Michelle Obama, have pursued writing, public speaking, and civic initiatives through the Obama Foundation.

Beyond the former president, the given name Barack has been used by other individuals and in various cultural contexts, but it remains most strongly linked to Barack Obama in contemporary discourse.