Beryl

Where Beryl comes from

From beryl or an anglicization of Yiddish בערל (berl, literally “little bear”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Beryl
  • Yiddish
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #518 among girls — 11 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1902
    Beryl Clutterbuck Markham born
    British writer, aviator, adventurer, racehorse trainer
  3. 1920
    Peak, #374
    311 babies named Beryl — more than any year before or since.
  4. 1932
    Beryl Bainbridge born
    English writer
  5. 1934
    The fade
    The first year with half the peak's births — down to #536.
  6. 1980
    Mostly girls from here
    Until now more boys than girls got the name; from this year it's the other way round, and has stayed that way.
In the dictionary
  • A female given name from English derived from the gem beryl.
  • A male given name from Yiddish, meaning “little bear”.
Namesakes
  • Beryl Bainbridge · English writer, 1932–2010
  • Beryl Clutterbuck Markham · British writer, aviator, adventurer, racehorse trainer, 1902–1986
  • Beryl Penrose · Australian tennis player, 1930–2021
  • Beryl Reid · British actress, 1919–1996
  • Beryl Burton · English racing cyclist, 1937–1996

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.