In 1956, the rare name Averell appeared for the first time in the U.S. baby name data:
- 1958: unlisted
- 1957: 6 baby boys named Averell
- 1956: 6 baby boys named Averell [debut]
- 1955: unlisted
- 1954: unlisted
My best guess on this one is businessman and politician William Averell Harriman, who served as the Governor of New York from 1955 to 1958. He was also a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination twice: in 1952 and in 1956.
His middle name — also his mother’s maiden name — looks to be a variant of Averill, which has several possible derivations, including the Old French word Avrill (meaning “April”) and the English place name Haverhill, made up of the Old English words hafri (“oats”) and hyll (“hill”).
(To complicate things…socialite “Mrs. Averell Clark Jr.” of Seattle was on the cover of LIFE in late 1955. This may have given the name an extra nudge. Incidentally, Mrs. Clark’s first name was Armene, and her mother’s was Armenouhie. The family was of Armenian descent.)
Source: Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
P.S. Harriman also developed America’s very first destination winter resort — Sun Valley, Idaho — in the 1930s.