Conference oass::babynames

    
    I put in note 342. about Cheryl....I also have a book at home
    that gives definitions .....I will look it up tonight and bring
    it in tomorrow for you..
    
    CHERYL
    

     I already looked at note 342 and it did not give any specific
    info on this name. So the look in your book will help.
        Thanks for the effort.
            
                 -- pb -- 
              

    In the book of names I have the definition is "sweet one"
    It is also the feminine form of Charles.
    
    Growing up I have known only 3 Cheryl's and they have all been in
    the last 15 years....My school day's were free of another Cheryl.
    
    Hope this helps
    
    Cheryl

>    In the book of names I have the definition is "sweet one"
>    It is also the feminine form of Charles.

	No offense, Cheryl, but what dictionary were you using? -- it
	sounds woefully bad.  I have never heard of Cheryl as meaning
	either "sweet one" or being the feminine of Charles.  In fact,
	your dictionary can't be correct -- because Charles means "man,"
	either Cheryl can't mean "sweet one" or it's not the feminine
	of Charles.

	Minor digression ...  Name dictionaries are notorious for
	being pretty shoddy examples of scholarship.  I think this is
	probably because their main audience was never scholars.  There
	are, however, some very good ones out there.  My personal
	favorite is Dunkling and Gosling, The New American Dictionary
	of First Names, Signet, 1985.

	Back to the topic ...  According to Dunkling and Gosling, Cheryl
	may very well not have a meaning.  It seems to be one of those
	names that basically just "sounds nice."  They speculate that
	it is a coinage and was originally influenced most strongly by
	Cherry and Beryl (the "ch" sound was originally pronounced like
	in "church").  It first appeared in the 20s.  To prove that the
	name was basically just for the "nice sound," Dunkling and Gosling
	cite the myriad ways that Cheryl was spelled: Cheryll, Cheryle,
	Cherryl, Cherril, Cherryle, Cherryll, Cherrill.  The "ch" sound 
	switched to an "sh" one when the French Cherie became popular
	in English-speaking countries.  This is also when variants using
	the "sh" spelling started to appear.
    
>    Growing up I have known only 3 Cheryl's and they have all been in
>    the last 15 years....My school day's were free of another Cheryl.
    
	Dunkling and Gosling say that the name was extremely popular
	and "reached a peak in the late 60s."  They go on to say that
	it has "faded drastically" -- probably because of overuse.

		-- Cliff

    re: .4
    
    Cliff,
    
    Thanx for clearing that up for me.  It wasn't a dictionary that
    I got the meaning from, it was from a Baby name book that someone
    gave me a couple months ago.  I can't remember the name of the book
    right now.
    
    Sorry for putting a false statement in notes.  I guess the book
    i was looking at is wrong.
    
    Cheryl

    I have a friend whose name is Cheri'  same sound as the on mentioned
    in re: .4 as the french Cherie.  She is some times called Sherry or
    even Cher.  Who by the way she resembles remarkably.