'barong' (the garment sense) originates from Tagalog, specifically the word 'baro' plus the linker '-ng', where 'baro' meant 'shirt' or 'garment'. The Balinese sense 'Barong' originates as a proper name in Balinese/Old Javanese ritual tradition referring to a masked protective figure. The weapon name was borrowed from various Philippine languages referring to a leaf-shaped blade.

'barong' (garment) entered English usage in the late 19th to early 20th century through Spanish and American colonial contact with the Philippines, from Tagalog 'baro' + '-ng' (as in 'barong Tagalog') and became the English name for the national formal shirt. The Balinese 'Barong' has been recorded in Indonesian and Dutch accounts of Balinese ritual and was adopted into English descriptions of Balinese performance. The blade name was recorded in ethnographic accounts of Moro arms and armor.

Initially, in Tagalog 'baro' simply meant 'shirt' or 'clothing'; in English 'barong' came to denote specifically the embroidered formal Philippine shirt. The Balinese 'Barong' originally denoted a ritual masked figure and retained its sense as a mythical guardian in English usage. The blade sense originally named a type of weapon and retained that specific meaning in English.