Beverly
Feminine · “beaver stream”
Beverly is overwhelmingly a girls’ name — 378,561 girls against 4,632 boys since 1880. See Beverly as a boy name
Beverly is a beaver lodge in Yorkshire. The town's name joins the Old English words for a beaver and for a stream or clearing, describing a place where beavers built — and beavers were native to Britain until they were hunted out. The name was a man's for its entire history until the twentieth century, when it changed sex completely.
How old is the name Beverly?
Beverly first appears in US birth records in 1893 — 132 years ago. The typical Beverly alive today was born around 1949, making them about 76 years old. About 231,000 people named Beverly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Beverly most popular?
Beverly peaked in 1937, reaching #14 nationally. Today it ranks #1016, 1,002 places below that high. See the whole 1937 chart.
Where it comes from
From beofor to Beverly
The story of Beverly
Beverley became a surname for families from the Yorkshire town and then an American given name for boys in the nineteenth century, which is where it stayed until a novel called Beverly of Graustark gave the name to a woman in nineteen-oh-four. Within a generation it had crossed completely: by the nineteen-thirties it was among the most-given girls' names in America and effectively unavailable for boys. That is one of the most complete sex changes any English name has undergone, and it took about twenty years.
Meaning
beaver stream
Beverley in the East Riding of Yorkshire is generally read as Old English beofor, a beaver, plus a word for a stream or a clearing — a place where beavers worked. Beavers were common in Britain and were hunted to extinction there by the sixteenth century, which is why the name describes something that had already gone by the time it became a surname. The derivation is standard.
How the name formed
- beofor
- Beverley
- Beverly
Pronouncing Beverly
BEV-ur-lee
BEV-ur-lee, three syllables, stress at the front, the middle reduced. The English town is spelled Beverley with an extra e and said the same way; the American given name dropped it early.
Nicknames for Beverly
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
- 1893
- Most girls named
- 195411,155 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #14reached in 1937
- Change vs 2022
- +9.8%246 in 2025, from 224
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.
Beverly in other languages
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, Florida.
Beverlys among us
people named Beverly are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 6,534 born in 2025 was named Beverly
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Rose test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Beverly's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Rose climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Rose's path sketches the road Beverly is walking now.
Beverly is on its second act. Revived names age gently: the generation that wore them first is far enough away that the name feels classic rather than dated.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Beverly is headed
Beverly should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Beverly beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Beverly in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- The Old English behind it is concrete and describes an animal that is genuinely back in Britain after four centuries.
- Bev is a complete working short form that needs no explanation.
- It has a documented Yorkshire town behind it rather than an invented history.
- It is very strongly associated with one American generation and dates a person about as precisely as a name can.
- The name is also a well-known Los Angeles district, and the association arrives for many people first.
- It is recorded for boys, which it was exclusively for centuries, but a boy carrying it now would be read as a girl on every form.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
Someone added a name to your list
Beverly
Feminine · #1016 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Beverlys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 231,000 people named Beverly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Beverly in 2025?
- Beverly ranks #1016 among US girl names in 2025, with 246 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Beverly?
- About 1 in every 6,534 US girls born in 2025 was named Beverly — 246 in all.
- Will my child share the name Beverly with classmates?
- Beverly will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Beverly
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Artemis#1016 · Agnes#1016 · Meera#1016 · Marjorie#1016 · Yusra#1016 · Belle#1013 · Viola#1013 · Cynthia#1013
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Beverly? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Beverly and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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