Berel
A diminutive form of the Yiddish name "Behr", meaning "bear".
Name Census estimates that about 176 living Americans carry the first name Berel. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Berel today is around 16 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Berel births was 2016 (13 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Berel. 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.
People living today
176
~ 1 in 1,947,468 Americans
Peak year
2016
13 babies that year
Average age
16
years old
2024 SSA rank
#7,802
Tracked since 1952
Popularity
Berel: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Berel from the 1950s through to the 2020s, spanning 7 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2010s, with 83 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2010s peak, Berel remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Berel 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 Berel during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Berels live
Origin
Meaning and history of Berel
The name Berel is a Yiddish diminutive form of the Hebrew name Dov, which means "bear" in English. It has its origins in Eastern and Central European Jewish communities, where Yiddish was widely spoken. The earliest recorded use of the name Berel dates back to the 16th century in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, although it may have been in use earlier.
One of the earliest known historical figures with the name Berel was Berel Sofer, a 17th-century Polish rabbi and author of several influential works on Jewish law and philosophy. Another notable individual was Berel Leyzer, a 19th-century Polish-Jewish poet and author who wrote in both Yiddish and Hebrew.
In the 20th century, Berel Wein, an American Orthodox rabbi and historian, gained prominence for his lectures and writings on Jewish history and Torah commentary. He was born in 1934 and passed away in 2022. Another well-known Berel was Berel Katznelson, an Israeli politician and labor leader who played a significant role in the establishment of the State of Israel. He was born in 1887 and died in 1944.
The name Berel is also associated with Berel Soloveitchik, a 20th-century Lithuanian-American rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in New York City. He was born in 1903 and died in 1992, leaving behind a lasting legacy in the field of Talmudic studies and Jewish law.
While the name Berel has been predominantly used within Jewish communities, it has also been adopted by others over time, albeit to a lesser extent. Its enduring popularity can be attributed to its connection to Jewish culture and tradition, as well as its distinctive and meaningful origin.
People
Berel + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Berel 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
Berel: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Berel?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 176 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Berel 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 1,947,468 US residents.
Is Berel a common name?
We classify Berel as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 181 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Berel most popular?
The single biggest year for Berel was 2016, when 13 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Berel is about 16 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Berel a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Berel in the SSA data are male. 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.
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.