Berry
Masculine
Berry is given to both — 5,737 boys and 370 girls since 1880. See other names given to both
Berry is a fruit, a French province and an Irish surname all at once, and nineteenth-century American families used it without leaving a note about which they meant.
How old is the name Berry?
Berry was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Berry alive today was born around 1947, making them about 78 years old. About 2,800 people named Berry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Berry most popular?
Berry peaked in 1880, reaching #305 nationally. Today it ranks #12008, 11,703 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From burh to Berry
The story of Berry
Burh place names are everywhere in England, and Berry and Bury are the ordinary surnames from them. The name crossed into American given-name use in the nineteenth century — the standard route — and appears in the registers throughout, peaking around 1885. It is also used as a short form of Berrien and of Bertram.
Meaningscholars disagree
Not established
Three routes. The English surname Berry is topographic, from the Old English burh, 'fortified place' — the same word as 'borough' and the -bury of Canterbury. The French province of Berry gave a separate surname. The Irish Ó Béara is a third. The English fruit is not the source.
How the name formed
- burh
- Berry
Related forms: Bury · Berry · Ó Béara
Pronouncing Berry
BE-ree
Two syllables, stress on the first. Identical in sound to the fruit and to Barry in many American accents.
Nicknames for Berry
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 195382 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #305reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- −54.5%5 in 2025, from 11
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Berry in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Bury in English — spelling variant
- Berry in French — related form
- Ó Béara in Irish — related form
Berrys among us
people named Berry are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 341,615 born in 2025 was named Berry
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Berry
- #12008
- Berry on the 2025 chart
- #918
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Berry went to 5 boys in 2025, but Beri is the same name said out loud. Together the 2 spellings went to 10, which makes it the 918th most-given boys’ name of the year — 11,090 places above the chart.
- Beri5
- Berry5
About 1 boy in 170,808 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 341,615 for Berry itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Berry sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Berry beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Berry in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The fortified-place meaning connects it to a very large family of English place names.
- Two clean syllables with no pronunciation risk.
- Three separate traditions can claim it.
- It is a homophone of the ordinary English fruit, which is not the source.
- Barry and Berry are near-homophones in most American accents.
- It is strongly period-coded to the nineteenth century.
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What they receive
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Berry
Masculine · #12008 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Berrys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,800 people named Berry are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Berry?
- Berry is one of 2 recorded spellings. Beri is the more common one — 5 births in 2025 against 5 for Berry.
- How popular is the name Berry in 2025?
- Berry ranks #12008 among US boy names in 2025, with 5 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Berry?
- About 1 in every 341,615 US boys born in 2025 was named Berry — 5 in all.
- Will my child share the name Berry with classmates?
- Berry will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Berry
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Garfield#12008 · Chas#12008 · Lew#12008 · Barney#12008 · Dewitt#12008 · Granville#12008 · Cicero#12008 · Willam#12008
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Berry? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Berry and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Which one would you pick?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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