Name Awesome

Bev

Girls' name

Short form of Beverly

Bev has been given to 1,003 babies in the U.S. since 1940. It was used fewer than 5 times in 2025, so it doesn't appear in the latest year's list — today it's a genuinely uncommon pick. Its peak year was 1959, with 127 recorded.

Babies named Bev, 1971

1 in 381,000

Bev over time, 1880–2025

GirlsBoys
05010015018801900192019401960198020002020

Based on births in the U.S. Babies given the name each year. Hover the chart — or focus it and use the arrow keys — for any year. Gaps mean the name was given fewer than 5 times that year; these counts are unpublished.

Bev: meaning, origin, and history

Short form of Beverly

Deeper origin not confirmed in the cited records

What Bev means

Bev is a short form of Beverly.

Documented naming usage and pronunciation

Bev is used in English.

Another recorded pronunciation is /ˈbɛv/ for Bev.

Meaning behind the documented name family

The name developed through Bev → Beverly → Beverley. The family’s meaning is “beaver + clearing”, recorded in English with the source elements befer and lēah.

Related names and everyday forms

Related names include Beverly and Beverley.

American usage and historical context

In the United States, 998 girls were recorded with the name Bev between 1940 and 1971. Its highest annual count was 127 in 1959; its best national rank was #928 in 1959.

In the United States, 5 boys were recorded with the name Bev between 1917 and 1917. Its highest annual count was 5 in 1917; its best national rank was #4,046 in 1917.

Sources & methodologyReferences, data & attribution

Meaning, origin, and language notes draw on the references below.

American popularity figures use published Social Security Administration records for this exact spelling. Counts below five for a name, sex, and year are omitted.

Wiktionary material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

How common is Bev?

Bev had fewer than 5 recorded uses in 2025, so these figures use 1971, the last year it was published.

Among all babies, 1971
1 in 381,000
9 of 3,432,187 births
Among girls only
1 in 185,000
<0.01% of girls
Rank, 1971
Unranked
Fewer than 5 uses
Coin-flip room size
264,336 kids
Even odds of a second one

Where Bev sits on the popularity scale

Rarest published (5 a year)#1 — Olivia (13,544)

Chance at least one other child shares the name

If the other children were drawn at random from the 1971 national name distribution. Real classrooms cluster by region and community, so treat these as a floor, not a ceiling.

Class of 20Under 1%
Class of 30Under 1%
Grade of 100Under 1%
School of 500Under 1%

Put another way: gather 264,336 children born in 1971 and it's an even bet that one of them is another Bev. In a class of 30 the chance is Under 1%.

When Bevs were born

Half of everyone ever recorded as Bev was born before 1959 — so the typical Bev is around 66 today.

Median birth year
1959
About 66 years old
Biggest decade
1960s
48.1% of all use
Born in the last 25 years
92.5%
A modern name
Recorded since 1950
875
People you could plausibly meet
Choose a decade

1960s — 48.1% of all recorded uses (480).

Is Bev rising or falling?

Rank movement and count movement can disagree — the number of distinct names in use keeps growing, so a name holding a steady count still slides down the list. Both are shown.

Rank vs 1 year ago
—
Not ranked then
Rank vs 5 years ago
New entry
Not ranked then
Rank vs 10 years ago
—
Not ranked then
Births vs 10 years ago
—
Not published both years
Share of its own peak
0%
Peak was 1959 (127)
Years since peak
66
Years
Year-to-year steadiness
Volatile
36.5% average annual change
Best rank ever
#928
1959

Where Bev is used

Across 1910–2025, Bev was most concentrated in Indiana — about 1 in 100,000 girls, against 1 in 162,577 across all states with data. It was least common in Wisconsin (1 in —).

01 per 100,000

Most concentrated

  1. 1Indiana1 in 100,000
  2. 2Michigan1 in 100,000
  3. 3Minnesota1 in 100,000
  4. 4Ohio1 in 100,000
  5. 5Washington1 in 100,000
  6. 6California1 in —
  7. 7Iowa1 in —
  8. 8Illinois1 in —

Shading is the share of that state's recorded girls given this name, not the raw count — otherwise the map would just show which states are biggest. Unshaded states have no published records for this period. U.S. birth records suppress state-year counts below 5; state counts therefore don't add up to the national total. Every state links to its full rankings. Bev has too little recent state data to map, so this covers all years from 1910.

Bev by the numbers

The raw record for each sex the name is used for.

As a girl's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#928
1959
Peak year
1959
127 that year
First recorded
1940
Last recorded
1971
All-time count
998
Count in 2025
Under 5

As a boy's name

Rank in 2025
Unranked
Trend vs 5 yrs ago
—
Best rank ever
#4,046
1917
Peak year
1917
5 that year
First recorded
1917
Last recorded
1917
All-time count
5
Count in 2025
Under 5

Names similar to Bev

Matched on shared beginnings and endings, similar length, and comparable popularity.

BevinBevaBeverleeBevanBevelyBevelynBeverlynBeverelyBeverlieBevynBeverleyBevieBeverleBeverliBeveryBeverlyeBeverlyannBeverlyBeverlinBevereley

Sibling names for Bev

Names from the same era and popularity tier — the two things that make a sibling set feel deliberate — skipping lookalike spellings and shared initials.

Explore around Bev

Top names of 1959, Bev's peak yearThe 1950s in fullOther names that peaked in 1959Girls' names starting with B