Beverly
Masculine · “beaver stream”
Beverly is given to girls far more often — 378,561 girls against 4,632 boys since 1880. See Beverly as a girl 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 was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Beverly alive today was born around 1933, making them about 92 years old. About 1,300 people named Beverly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Beverly most popular?
Beverly peaked in 1884, reaching #488 nationally. See the whole 1884 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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 1927117 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #488reached in 1884
- Change vs 1988
- −16.7%5 in 1991, from 6
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.
Beverlys among us
people named Beverly are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Beverly sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
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.
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What they receive
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Beverly
Masculine
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 1,300 people named Beverly are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Beverly in 2025?
- Beverly is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Beverly with classmates?
- Beverly will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More B names
The most-given names starting with B, all years combined.
Brian#339 · Benjamin#11 · Brandon#261 · Bryan#336 · Bruce#536 · Billy#1068 · Bobby#1097 · Bradley#403
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Beverly? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Beverly and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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