Beverly
Meaning
from an English place name meaning 'beaver stream' or 'beaver meadow'
Goes by Bev
The story
Beverly began as English geography: a place name from Beverley in Yorkshire, meaning beaver stream, and like many place names it worked as a surname and even a boys' name before finding its real career. That career was decidedly American and decidedly feminine. A popular 1904 novel, Beverly of Graustark, put the name on a spirited heroine, and the climb that followed through the 1910s and 20s crested in the 1930s, when Beverly ranked among the country's favorite girls' names, its glamour burnished by a certain famous California address. It stayed strong through the 1950s, then followed its generation gently down the chart, though the 2020s show a first small flicker of return. As vintage revivals reach ever deeper into the past, a name meaning beaver stream with Hollywood connections may be better positioned than it looks.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Beverly peaked in the 1930s.
See popularity in Brazil
Popularity in Brazil
130 people · the #34,267 first name in Brazil · about 1 in 1,000,000 · median age 30
Among people named Beverly living in Brazil at the 2022 census, more were born in the 2000s than in any other decade.
Source: IBGE, Censo Demográfico 2022
When you meet Beverly
Most people given the name Beverly in the United States were born between 1940 and 1969. The Beverly you meet today is most often in her 60s or 70s.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Beverly deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Beverly truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Beverly fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Beverly fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Beverly to your family’s tree →