Beverly (name)

Beverly or Beverley is an English surname, which was in turn taken from the place name Beverley. The place name derives from Old English, combining befer ("beaver") and leah ("clearing').

It is also a given name. It was at one time a common masculine given name, but is now almost exclusively a feminine name due to the popularity of a 1904 novel, Beverly of Graustark by George Barr McCutcheon. Its association with Beverly Hills, California, where many well known film actors live, might also have contributed to its usage in the United States.

Usage

The name ranked among the 1,000 most popular names for newborn girls in the United States between 1905 and 1999 and was among the top 100 names for American girls between 1926 and 1964. It was at the peak of its popularity in 1937, when it was the 14th most popular name for newborn girls. It was also among the 1,000 most popular names for American boys at different points between 1880 and 1954.

It was among the top 100 names for newborn girls in Canada between 1929 and 1963, and among the top 100 names for newborn girls in New Zealand between 1930 and 1953. As of 2024 the name is again increasing in usage, influenced by the popularity of similar sounding names such as Everly and Bellamy.

People with the name

Notable people with the name Beverly or Beverley include:

Given name

• Beverly Aadland (1942–2010), American film actress
• Beverly Adams (born 1945), Canadian-American actress and author
• Beverly Allen (born 1945), Australian botanical artist
• Beverley Allitt (born 1968), British serial killer of children
• Beverly Anderson (born 1943), American mathematician and professor
• Beverly Archer (fl. 1970s–2000s), American actress
• Beverly Armstrong (born 1934), American girl's baseball pitcher
• Beverley Badenhorst, South African politician
• Beverley Bass (born c. 1951), American pilot
• Beverly Bayne (1894–1982), American actress
• Beverley "Bev" Bevan (born 1944), English rock musician
• Beverly A. Bodem (born 1940), member of the Michigan House of Representatives
• Beverley Bolin (1923–2014), first woman to become a registered architect in South Australia
• Beverly Boys (born 1951), Canadian diver
• Beverly Briley (1914–1980), mayor of Nashville, Tennessee (1963–1975)
• Beverly Caimen (born 1994), stage name Beverly, Filipino pop singer in Japan
• Beverly Chester-Burton (born 1963), American politician
• Beverley Cochrane Cayley (1898–1928), Canadian lawyer and mountaineer
• Beverly Cleary (1916–2021), American children's author
• Beverley Cressman, British actress
• Beverly A. Davis (1868–1944), American lawyer and politician
• Beverly B. Douglas (1822–1878), United States Representative from Virginia
• Beverly M. Emerson, American biochemist
• Beverly Baker Fleitz (1930–2014), American tennis player
• Beverly A. Gage (died 1997), American politician
• Beverly Thomas Galloway (1863–1938), American plant pathologist
• Beverly Garland (1926–2008), American actress
• Beverley Garlick (born 1944), Australian architect
• Beverly Anne Giesbrecht (1953–2010), Canadian convert to Islam and web designer
• Beverley Goddard (born 1956), former British sprinter
• Beverley Goodway (1943–2012), British glamour photographer
• Beverley Harper (1943–2002), Australian author of novels set in Africa
• Beverly Harvard (born 1950), American police chief
• Beverly Johnson (born 1952), American supermodel
• Beverley Knight (born 1973), English soul and R&B singer-songwriter
• Beverly B. Martin (born 1955), judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit
• Beverley Randolph Mason (1834–1910), American educator
• Beverly McClellan (1969–2018), American singer, contestant in the first season of the American TV series The Voice
• Beverley McLachlin (born 1943), Canadian jurist and 17th Chief Justice of Canada
• Beverley Mitchell (born 1981), American actress and country music singer
• Beverley Nichols (1898–1983), English author
• Beverley Randolph (1754–1797), eighth governor of Virginia
• Beverley Shenstone (1906–1979), Canadian aerodynamicist
• Beverly Sills (1929–2007), American operatic soprano
• Beverly Burnsed Spencer (1941–2019), American politician and university administrator
• Beverley Wang, Canadian-Australian radio producer and presenter
• Beverly Washburn (born 1943), American actress
• Beverly Watkins (1939–2019), American blues guitarist
• Beverly Woolley (born 1939), American politician
• Beverly Wright (fl. 1990s–2020s), American environmental justice scholar

Surname

Beverly

• Charles Beverly (1899–1981), American baseball player
• Frankie Beverly (born 1946), American soul/funk singer-songwriter
• Gerald Beverly, (born 1993) American basketball player
• Hattie Beverly, (1874–1904) African-American school teacher

Beverley

• Charles James Beverley (1788–1868), British Naval surgeon, FRS.
• Cliff Beverley (born 1977), former New Zealand Rugby League player
• Harry Beverley (rugby league, born 1907), rugby league footballer of the 1930s and 1940s
• Harry Beverley (rugby league, born 1947), rugby league footballer of the 1970s and 1980s
• Henry Roxby Beverley (1790–1863), English actor
• James R. Beverley (1894–1967), United States lawyer
• Jo Beverley (1947–2016), British novelist
• Nick Beverley (born 1947), former Canadian National Hockey League player and head coach
• Patrick Beverley (born 1988), American basketball player
• Peter Beverley (c. 1668 – 1728), Virginia colonial politician, Speaker of the Virginia House of Burgesses
• Robert Beverley Jr. (1673–1722), American historian
• Trazana Beverley, American actress
• William Beverley (1696–1756), American legislator, civil servant, planter, and landowner

Fictional characters

• "B", real name Beverly, from Total Drama: Revenge of the Island
• Beverly, the owl spirit, from Spiritfarer
• Beverly Bighead, one of the supporting characters in Rocko's Modern Life
• Beverley Carlton, a character in the play The Man Who Came to Dinner, based on Noël Coward
• Beverly Crusher, in the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation and related media
• Beverly Harris, in the sitcom Roseanne
• Beverly Hope, a recurring character in the television series American Horror Story: Cult, played by Adina Porter
• Beverly Katz, in the novel Red Dragon and the TV series Hannibal
• Beverly King, brother to Felix King in The Story Girl and The Golden Road, by L. M. Montgomery
• Beverley Leslie, a recurring character (Karen Walker's frenemy) in the sitcom Will and Grace
• Beverly Mantle, one of the identical twin main characters of the movie Dead Ringers, both played by Jeremy Irons
• Beverly Marsh, the only female member of the loser's club in Stephen King's novel It
• Beverly Marshall, in the Australian soap opera Neighbours
• Beverly Moss, the central character of Mike Leigh's television play Abigail's Party
• Beverly Weston, in the play August: Osage County

References