Barua (also Baruah, Barooah, Baroova, Borooah, Baroowa) is a common Assamese surname. It is also the shared surname of an ethnic minority in Bangladesh, and a Hispanic surname.

In Assam

Originally the title was conferred for most of class of officers in the Ahom kingdom of medieval Assam. The Ahom appointed officers with various title and the title Baruah means a " Leader of 3000 men".

The Baruas'/ Baruahs' /Barooahs' of Assam are Hindus by faith and have been a key contributors to the growth of Assamese community. Baruahs' or Barooahs' especially of Upper - Assam and also to an extent in Lower and Middle/Central-Assam are generally Brahmins (or even may be Kayastha ) representing General Caste people having or carrying specific Gotras i.e., proper Brahmin Identity Surnames. Even Barua and others with middle title or surname such as, Ram, Prasad, Ranjan, Krishnakant, Govind, Chandra - Barooah / Baruah / Barua mostly belong to these upper caste. (See Assamese Brahmins )

Other Barooahs' /Baruahs' /Baruas' may be carrying similar or even same middle - titles are Hindus who are generally Ahoms - (descendants of Ahom Community) or Kalitas (as generally referred in Assam, who worship saints of Assamese community such as; Shankar Dev rather engaging themselves in idol worship).

Prominent Baruas

Some Baruah of national and international fame are

Ananda Ram Baruah - The sixth Indian Civil Service officer of India and first from Assam.
Jahnu Barua - Internationally acclaimed filmmaker Baruah makes films in Hindi and Assamese. He has till now won nine National Awards and fifteen international awards.
Siva Prasad Barooah - Pioneer planter, path - breaker in Assamese journalism, renowned philanthropist, politician and humanist, Siva Prasad Barooah was the richest tea planter of India.
Hemendra Prasad Baruah - Hemendra Prasad Barooah born in 1926 obtained MBA from the Harvard Business School, USA - the first person form the North East to get this degree and 6th from India, Barooah joined the family tea plantation business in 1950 and went on to become one of the richest people of India.
Pramathesh Chandra Baruah - Made a brilliant contribution to the Indian Film Industry. Baruah produced the second Indian film "Devdas" followed up Devdas with a series of high quality films - Manzil (1936), Mukti (1937), Adhikar (1938), Rajat Jayanti (1939) and Zindagi (1940).
Shantanu Baruah (Sandy K. Baruah) - Nominated by President Bush in 2005 to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. Mr. Baruah has served the Bush Administration since 2001.
Dev Kant Baruah - President of Indian National Congress party at the time of Indian Emergency (1975-1977)
Dhaniram Baruah - Internationally renowned cardiac surgeon who invented the Baruah valve and an artificial heart. He is equally a controversial figure in the Indian medical fraternity having transplant the heart of a pig in a man.
Mamta Baruah – Mamta Baruah Herland is a painter and a fine art digital artist born in upper Assam, the youngest daughter of Late Dr. Upendra Nath Baruah and Srimoti Annada Kumari Baruah. She has studied in India, UK, Norway and Australia and at present resides near Oslo in Norway. Her works have been exhibited internationally and received many media attention.

There are many Baruahs who working in corporate sectors have made a mark.
Samir Baruah: Director of IIM , Ahmedabad
Abhijit Baruah: Vice President at SIFY Technologies
Mr. Rana Barua: Vice President of Radio City
Vijit Baruah: Sr. Vice President and Structuring Head at Citigroup
Dr Ranjit Baruah: Chairman, The British Indian Psychiatric Association
Mr. Abhijit Barooah - An industrialist. He is the Managing Director of Assam Air Products and Premier Cryogenics Pvt. Ltd.

Other prominent Baruas / Barooahs of Assam contributing/contributed in different fields to the Assamese society are:
Radha Govinda Baruah (A sports enthusiast, who later introduced Assam to the culture of sports).
Parvati Prasad Baruah (A famous Assamese music composer)
Shri Tara Prasad Barooah (University Prize-man, Gold-medalist in English from Calcutta University who was one of the few Tamra-Patra recipient freedom fighters from Assam).
Shri Debo Prasad Barooah (Highly qualified educationalist of Assam who was the Vice-Chancellor of [[Gauhati University]], eldest son of Shri Tara Prasad Barooah).
Jagannath Barooah (Known for Jagannath Barooah College).
Bisturam Barooah (Famous Tea-Planter of Assam).
Swargajyoti Barooah (Originally Swargajyoti Datta, but married to Shri Tara Prasad Barooah and hence more identified with Barooah surname was one of the first few Assamese/Indian Film actresses).

GAUTAM PRASAD BAROOWAH :
Gautam Prasad Baroowah (originally from Guwhati Assam and now a resident of Kolkata) was the First person from Northeastern states to be appointed as the Corporate Vice President of Williamson Magor & Company, the biggest Tea Plantation Group of the world. He was also the First person from private sector of the country to be, appointed as the Banking Ombudsman by Reserve Bank of India in 2000. A well known award winning writer known internationally for his book "Tea: Legend, Life and Livelihood of India" that was released by Joe Simrani, President of American Tea Association in Robin Museum, Manhattan, Newyork, USA in 2006 and at Oxford Books in Kolkata India by the Chairman Tea Board of Government of India.

The most notorious Baruah of Assam is Paresh Baruah, the self-styled commander-in-chief of the militant group ULFA

In Bangladesh

Barua is the last name of Bengali speaking People who are almost exclusively Buddhist and are concentrated heavily in the Chittagong and nearby hill tracts of Bangladesh, who migrated to Rangoon,Calcutta and many other cities during British Raj as Chefs and restaurant owners. The plain Buddhists of Bangladesh known as the Burua-Buddhist are the ancient peoples of Bangladesh who have lived here for five thousand years according to Arakanese chronology. They insist that they came from the Aryavarta or the country of the Aryans which is practically identical to the country later known as the Majjhimadesh or Madhyadesh in Pali literature .
Ajit K. Barua a Bangladeshi was a freedom fighter in 1971 sector-1 graduated from Dhaka university and later he came to Japan and living for the last 26 years. He is the founder Chairperson of Bangladesh Scholarship Council (BSC)recognized by the United Nations. This organization distributed more than 30 million Taka to the talented poor students throughout the country at the university level till 2008. He got married with Swapna Barua hails from Chittagong. They have two daughters Asmita Barua, Dipanita Barua and only son Bijoy Barua