Beryl (given name)

Beryl

A gold and beryl ring. The name is taken from the beryl used to make jewelry.
Gender	Unisex
Origin
Word/name	(female) Greek
Meaning	beryl

Beryl is a given name with reference to the mineral beryl. Although more commonly a feminine given name, it has been used in the past as a masculine name, predominantly in the United States. Use as a male name likely comes from a variant spelling of the surname Burrell, whose seeming root is the Old French bovre, a reddish-brown woolen fabric with the resultant name denoting a worker in the wool trade.^{[citation needed]} Beryl may also be a variant spelling of the Yiddish male name Berel.

Like most jewel names, Beryl's use as a feminine name dates from the late 19th-century: dancer Beryl de Zoete and actress Beryl Mercer would have been among the earliest namesakes being born respectively in 1879 and 1882. The female name Beryl was always more popular in the British Isles than in North America; since the mid-20th century the name has become somewhat unfashionable in the British Isles^{[citation needed]}.