We have determined the fraction of barred galaxies in the H-band for a stat
istically well-defined sample of 186 spirals. At H, 56% of our sample is st
rongly barred, 16% is weakly barred, and only 27% is unbarred. The RC3 and
the Carnegie Atlas of Galaxies both classify roughly 30% of our sample as s
trongly barred. Thus strong bars are nearly twice as prevalent in the H-ban
d as in the optical. Roughly 40% of the galaxies in our sample that are cla
ssified as unbarred in the RC3 show evidence for a bar in the H-band; for t
he Carnegie Atlas the fraction is roughly 60%. We find no significant trend
in bar fraction as a function of morphology, in either the optical or H-ba
nd.