Message: "origins of "Cheryl""

origins of "Cheryl"

by macgrub

9/30/2004, 3:44 PM

Most citations I have found for the name "Cheryl" agree it is of French origin. However, I cannot find when it began to appear in the U.S. I don't know any person older than a "boomer" with this name; that Cheryl was born in 1946. Her mother pronounces this with a hard "CH" like "cherry" and she says that only the spelling with a "SH" should have the softer sound. Did some actress or singer have this name during WWII? who is the oldest Cheryl you know? Thanks....

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- chazda +3

10/3/2004, 2:39 AM

My trusty name dictionary says Cheryl is a "development" of Cherry, influenced by Beryl which was popular in the 1920s (when Cheryl was first used). It was originally pronounced with a hard Ch, but then French Cherie and its phonetic form Sherry became popular (30s or so).. and by the 40s Sheryl appeared -- maybe because some bearers of Cheryl said it with a Sh.

So Cheryl's sort of an English-language combo of Cherry, Beryl, and French Cherie / English Sherry.

My dictionary author usually notes famous bearers in his entries, but none are mentioned for Cheryl.

- chazda

- Andy (guest) +2

10/3/2004, 2:56 PM

May we know what your trusty name dictionary is called?

Andy ;—)

- chazda +1

10/9/2004, 8:13 PM

my name dictionary

Sorry, I've mentioned it before and got lazy this time.

Leslie Dunkling's The New American Dictionary of First Names, 1983. He did some primary research on usage, and used the usual older research. Although the title is "American," he covers usage in Britain as well.

- chazda

- Andy (guest)

10/9/2004, 11:15 PM

Thanks a lot!

- Chrisell

9/30/2004, 7:29 PM

The link below is to a 'popularity history' of Cheryl (a graph). As you can see it appeared in the 1930s. No famous 1930s Cheryls spring to mind, though, sorry.

http://www.behindthename.com/php/search.php?terms=cheryl&popterm=&gender=both&extra=p

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