According to the OED the first record we have of the name barn owl is from 1674, in John Ray's
A collection of English vvords not generally used, with their significations and original in two alphabetical catalogues, the one of such as are proper to the northern, the other to the southern counties : with catalogues of English birds and fishes : and an account of the preparing and refining such metals and minerals as are gotten in England
The Barn Owl
My brother took this photograph of a Barn Owl.
According to the OED the first record we have of the name barn owl is from 1674, in John Ray's
A collection of English vvords not generally used, with their significations and original in two alphabetical catalogues, the one of such as are proper to the northern, the other to the southern counties : with catalogues of English birds and fishes : and an account of the preparing and refining such metals and minerals as are gotten in England
"The common Barn-owl or White Owl, Aluco minor."
For more about this book see here.