Beau
Meaning
"handsome"
The story
Beau is French for handsome, and unusually for a name, it never stopped being an ordinary word in English too: for generations an American girl's beau was her sweetheart, and before that a beau was a dandy, a man dressed to be admired. As a given name it carries a distinctly Southern accent, helped along by Gone with the Wind, where Ashley Wilkes gives the name to his son. The records tell a story of slow persuasion: Beau is essentially absent before the 1940s, creeps in at midcentury, rises gently through the 1970s and 1980s, then leaps in the 2010s and reaches its highest point yet in the 2020s. Once a nickname-flavored gamble, it now reads as a complete, confident name: one syllable, one compliment, paid daily.
Popularity, 1890–2024
Shape drawn from US Social Security baby-name records. Beau peaked in the 2020s.
When you meet Beau
Most people given the name Beau in the United States are children or teenagers today. The name belongs to this generation.
Estimated from US Social Security birth registrations and typical lifespans; a rough guide, not a rule.
The Beau deep dive
Whether you’re naming a baby or exploring your own name’s history, this is a personal letter, not a list: where Beau truly comes from, how it traveled, and what a century of records reveals. If you have grown a tree on nametree, it also considers how Beau fits with your family’s names and surname.
Keep exploring
Does Beau fit YOUR family?
nametree reads your family’s names and finds the ones that belong. Free, private, no ads.
Add Beau to your family’s tree →