Beau
Meaning of Beau
Beau, pronounced BOH, began life as the French adjective for “handsome,” slipped into English as a jaunty term for a fashionable suitor, and has since settled comfortably onto American birth certificates as a given name in its own right. The most famous early bearer, Regency dandy Beau Brummell, demonstrated that immaculate tailoring and smart conversation can spin a nickname into legend; more recently, figures like the late American politician Beau Biden have anchored the name in contemporary public life. Though never outlandishly popular, Beau has shown a steady climb from the fringes of the U.S. charts in the 1960s to a respectable No. 68 in 2024, suggesting that parents appreciate a moniker that doubles as a compliment—after all, subtle flattery never hurts a baby announcement. Compact, upbeat, and free of spelling puzzles, Beau carries just enough French polish to feel refined while retaining the easy-going, cowboy lilt that keeps it thoroughly Anglo-American.
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. |
