# Berkeley (first name)

Source: https://namelineage.com/first-name/berkeley/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. US counts from the Social Security Administration; England and Wales counts from the Office for National Statistics; meaning and etymology from Wiktionary. Data updated 2026-11-11.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Usually given to | boys and girls |
| Origin | English |
| Meaning | “birch”, “meadow”, “leigh”, “lea” |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbɝkli/, 2 syllables |
| Nicknames | none recorded |
| Variant spellings | Barclay, Barclift, Barkley |
| US babies named this | 2,973 since 1880 |
| Boys / girls in the US | 900 / 2,073 (70% girls) |
| Babies in England and Wales | not in the ONS data |

## Etymology

From Old English beorc (“birch”) + leah (“meadow, leigh”). Equivalent to birch + -ley (“lea”).

## Popularity

The last 15 years of each series. A year is missing when too few babies were given the name for the agency to publish it: five in the US, three in England and Wales.

### United States, girls

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 88 | 2,158 |
| 2012 | 77 | 2,403 |
| 2013 | 84 | 2,218 |
| 2014 | 85 | 2,216 |
| 2015 | 108 | 1,885 |
| 2016 | 117 | 1,778 |
| 2017 | 119 | 1,763 |
| 2018 | 115 | 1,776 |
| 2019 | 98 | 1,973 |
| 2020 | 100 | 1,909 |
| 2021 | 89 | 2,120 |
| 2022 | 80 | 2,321 |
| 2023 | 81 | 2,273 |
| 2024 | 76 | 2,392 |
| 2025 | 71 | 2,490 |

### United States, boys

| Year | Babies | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 21 | 4,525 |
| 2012 | 20 | 4,710 |
| 2013 | 21 | 4,484 |
| 2014 | 14 | 6,029 |
| 2015 | 17 | 5,319 |
| 2016 | 16 | 5,591 |
| 2017 | 14 | 6,094 |
| 2018 | 17 | 5,349 |
| 2019 | 18 | 5,181 |
| 2020 | 10 | 7,588 |
| 2021 | 12 | 6,757 |
| 2022 | 15 | 5,912 |
| 2023 | 11 | 7,347 |
| 2024 | 7 | 10,043 |
| 2025 | 10 | 7,743 |

## People named Berkeley

- Berkeley L. Bunker, American politician (1906-1999)
- Nick Mason, English drummer

## How to read these numbers

A count is babies registered with that name in that year, not people alive now, so a name common a century ago can have a large total and few recent births.