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.