Beau
Meaning of Beau
Beau is a French word meaning beautiful or handsome, and it is used in English as a male given name with that sense. It is the masculine form of the French adjective; the feminine form is belle. The English name comes directly from this word. It is pronounced BOH, with the same vowel as in go.
The best-known historical bearer is Beau Brummell, the leading arbiter of men's fashion in Regency England and a onetime friend of the Prince Regent; his name became a byword for dandyism. Among contemporary namesakes, Beau Bridges is an Emmy-winning American actor, the son of Lloyd Bridges and older brother of Jeff Bridges.
In the United States, Beau was uncommon for much of the twentieth century, though it never disappeared. It ranked 203rd in 1980, when 1,207 boys were given the name, then slipped back through the 1980s and 1990s.
Its recent rise has been especially sharp: it stood 375th in 2010, 109th in 2020, and 60th in 2025, when 5,165 boys received it. That is both its highest rank and its largest annual count.
Pronunciation
French
- Pronunced as BOH (/bo/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Beau
| Beau Brummell, the leading arbiter of mens fashion in Regency England and once a friend of the Prince Regent, fled to France over debts and died in Caen. |
| Beau Bridges is an American actor and Emmy, Golden Globe, and Grammy winner with a Hollywood Walk of Fame star, and the son of Lloyd Bridges and older brother of Jeff Bridges. |
| Beau, born Christopher John Trevor Midgley, is a British singer songwriter and twelve string guitarist who emerged in the late 1960s on John Peel Dandelion Records with the albums Beau and Creation and the single 1917 Revolution, said to have inspired A Horse with No Name by America. |
| Beau Hill is an American record producer and musician known for work with Ratt, Alice Cooper, and Warrant, for playing on sessions and with his 1980s bands Airborne and Shanghai, and as a founding partner of Interscope Records. |
| American actress and model Beau Garrett began in Guess ads before appearing in Turistas, Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer, and Tron Legacy. |
| Beau Kittredge is a former Ultimate star, author, illustrator, and mobile game entrepreneur known for blazing speed, two AUDL MVPs, a viral leap-over catch at Colorado, and numerous college, club, world, and AUDL titles. |
| Beau Hossler is an American professional golfer who twice qualified for the US Open as a teenager, briefly led the 2012 event, won the Haskins Award in college, and has played on the PGA Tour. |
| William Beau Mirchoff is a Canadian American actor best known for MTV series Awkward, Good Trouble as Jamie Hunter, and Starz series Now Apocalypse. |
| Beau Carey is an American painter and educator based in Albuquerque who immerses himself in remote landscapes from New Mexico to the Arctic and Denali, creating plein air works that explore globalization and environmental concerns. |
| Beau Christian Knapp is an American actor known for The Signal, Run All Night, Southpaw, Death Wish, and the 2021 TV series The Lost Symbol. |
| Beau Parry is an American inventor and founder of BRIVAS, noted for biometric encryption and liveness detection patents and a TEDx talk. |
| Beau Maister is an Australian rules footballer who played in the AFL for St Kilda and the West Coast Eagles and in the WAFL for Claremont. |
| Beau Dowler is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Hawthorn in the AFL. |
| Beau Mundine is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played as a centre for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the National Rugby League. |
| Beau Ballard is a Nebraska state senator serving District 21 in Lincoln, appointed by Governor Pete Ricketts to replace Mike Hilgers after Hilgers became Attorney General, following five years as a legislative aide to Hilgers. |
