Meaning & History
From Welsh eryl meaning "watcher" or "lookout" (originally "hunt"), derived from ar, an intensifying prefix, and hyl "a hunt". In regular use since the 1920s, though infrequently. Trefor R. Davies reports in his 'Book of Welsh Names' (1952) that Eryl was first used by John and Dilys Glynne Jones for their daughter, born in 1893. They lived in a house called Eryl-y-môr ("lookout over the sea"). It was subsequently used for boys as well as girls.