Beryl
A precious gemstone name of Greek origin relating to aquamarine.
Name Census estimates that about 3,005 living Americans carry the first name Beryl. It appears on both sides of the gender split, with 81.2% of registrations being female. The average person named Beryl today is around 69 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Beryl births was 1920 (379 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Beryl. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Beryl with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Beryl is about 69 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Beryls were born before 1967.
People living today
3.0K
~ 1 in 114,061 Americans
Peak year
1920
379 babies that year
Average age
69
years old
1989 SSA rank
#8,025
Tracked since 1880
Census
Beryl in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 6,014 people with the first name Beryl, which placed it at #3,454 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#3,454
National first-name rank
People counted
6.0K
6,014 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
2.0
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
65.5% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Beryl
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beryl is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Black (25.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Beryl described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Beryl at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White65.5% · 3,937
- Black or African American25.6% · 1,539
- Asian and Pacific Islander4.2% · 255
- Two or more races2.3% · 136
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 116
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 31
Gender
Gender distribution for Beryl
Beryl leans heavily female at 81.2% of total registrations, but 2,338 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Beryl as a male name
- Ranked #8,025 in 1989
- 5 male births in 1989
- Peak: 1919 (78 births)
Beryl as a female name
- Ranked #11,234 in 2024
- 8 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1920 (311 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beryl leans strongly female. 5,327 people counted with this name were female (88.7%), compared with 682 male bearers (11.3%).
Popularity
Beryl: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Beryl from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1920s, with 2,876 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1920s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Beryl by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Beryl during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Beryls live
The SSA's state-level files cover 43 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana recorded the most babies named Beryl, while Rhode Island, Mississippi, Maryland recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 142 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Beryl
The name Beryl is derived from the Greek word "beryllos", which means a precious green mineral. The name has been in use since ancient times and is believed to have originated in the Mediterranean region.
Beryl was the name of a precious stone mentioned in the Bible's Book of Exodus as one of the gems adorning the breastplate of the High Priest. This reference dates back to around the 13th century BC, indicating the name's ancient origins.
In ancient Greece, Beryl was the name of a nymph associated with the mineral. The name was also used in ancient Rome, with records showing a Roman woman named Beryl who lived in the 1st century AD.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Beryl is from the 6th century AD, when a saint named Beryl of Valois was born in France. She was known for her charitable works and is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church.
In the Middle Ages, the name Beryl was relatively rare but was used occasionally in various European countries. One notable example is Beryl de Ferrieres, a 12th-century French noblewoman and author.
The name gained popularity during the Victorian era, particularly in England and other parts of the British Empire. This was likely due to the association with the beautiful green gemstone and the romantic nature of the name.
One of the most famous individuals named Beryl was Beryl Markham, a British-born Kenyan aviator, adventurer, and author who lived from 1902 to 1986. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic from east to west.
Another notable Beryl was Beryl Reid, a British actress who lived from 1919 to 1996 and was best known for her roles in television comedies and dramas.
In literature, Beryl is the name of a character in Thomas Hardy's novel "Tess of the d'Urbervilles", published in 1891. She is portrayed as a flirtatious and manipulative woman who seeks to ensnare the novel's protagonist, Angel Clare.
Other notable individuals named Beryl include Beryl Bainbridge, an English novelist and actress (1932-2010), and Beryl Coronet, an American actress and dancer (1890-1962).
People
Beryl + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Beryl as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with B
Other first names starting with B with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Beryl: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Beryl?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 3,005 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Beryl going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 114,061 US residents.
Is Beryl a common name?
We classify Beryl as "Rare". It ranks above 95.2% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 12,460 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Beryl most popular?
The single biggest year for Beryl was 1920, when 379 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Beryl is about 69 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Beryl in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 6,014 people with the name Beryl, or 1.99 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #3,454 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Beryl in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Beryl?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Beryl leans strongly female. 5,327 people counted with this name were female (88.7%), compared with 682 male bearers (11.3%). The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Beryl?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Beryl is White at 65.5%. The next largest groups are Black (25.6%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (4.2%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Beryl most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Beryl in the 2020 Census, accounting for 65.5% (3,937 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Beryl in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Beryl a female name?
Yes, 81.2% of people registered as Beryl in the SSA data are female. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Beryl still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Beryl in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Beryl can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people have Beryl as a first name?
HowManyOfMe.org, our sister site, answers that with the living-bearer count in one glance.