Baby Name Beau for a Girl
Initially, Beau was used from the 17th century as a sobriquet (i.e. a nickname given to them by society by which they become known). An early example is Richard Nash (1674-1761) who was known (and is still today) as Beau Nash. A celebrated dandy of his day, Nash was a leading socialite in Bath and it is thanks to him that Bath and Tunbridge Wells became he most fashionable resorts in 18th-century England.
And then there is the great Dandy himself, Beau Brummel. Born George Bryan Brummel (1778-1840), he became a hugely famous figure in Regency England for his style and taste and was the first and last word in fashion. He led the transition from breeches to tailored pantaloons (it's thanks to him that trousers are such a fashion staple) and also popularised the move away from powdered wigs to short Roman-style hair*.
The name is first recorded in England and Wales in 1910 for Beau Trevor Lovern in Somerset. Before that however, the surnames Beaumont, Beaufoy, Beauclerk and Beauchamp (which is traditionally pronounced "Bee-cham" in Britain) were in use as given names from the 18th century, and all were used steadily — especially Beaumont which was especially prevalent in Huddersfield— throughout the 19th century.
Beau was slow in use as an actual given name in its own right as births in England and Wales show:
1910s: 1 birth
1920s: 1 birth
1930s: 1 birth
1940s: 5births
1950s: 2 births
1960s: 7 births
1970s: 34 births
In popular culture, Beau was used as the eponymous name of P. C. Wren's 1924 adventure novelBeau Geste following upper class Englishman Michael "Beau" Geste and his brothers in the French Foreign Legion in Algeria pre-WW1.
The novel was made into a film in 1939 starring Gary Cooper in the titular role.
Beau was also used by Margaret Mitchell for her 1936 novelGone with the Wind, later a 1939 blockbuster film, for the minor character Beauregard "Beau" Wilkes, the son of Ashley and Melanie Wilkes. His name was inspired by Confederate General Pierre Beauregard.
From 1960-1962, Roger Moore joined the cast of television Western seriesMaverickas the character Beau Maverick.
Then, by the 1970s, actor Beau Bridges (born Lloyd Vernet Bridges III) was making more of a name for himself in feature films as was actress Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins).
Despite this, as we can see from the data above, Beau didn't began to get notable usage as a name until the 1970s. In America, too, Beau staring rising more earnestly in the 1970s, having first entered the top 1000 at #967 in 1967. By 1980, Beau peaked at #203 in the US and from this point until 2015, it remained between the #200-#500 mark.
By 1996 in England and Wales, Beau was #458 (41 births) for boys and declined down to #600 in 1997 and #817 (20 births) in 2000. This implies that the name had previously been more popular and was, at that time, in its waning period.
It quickly sprang back up to #452 (46 births) the following year, however, and was #259 (131 births) by 2005. Beau broke into the top 200 in 2009 at #178 (295 births) and has remained between #170-#200 ever since, peaking at #172 (341 births) in 2012.
By the late 1990s, Beau was also in use for girls in Britain. Initially this was in small numbers, having no more than ten births in any given year in England and Wales from 1996 to 2000. By 2002, however it modestly rose to #809 (30 births) and was #473 (78 births) by 2005. Beau for girls peaked at #169 (302 births) in 2012 — the same year it peaked for boys — but saw a slight decline afterwards.
Then there is the spelling Bo which has also been used for both boys and girls in Britain, but has generally swayed more towards the girls. There is perhaps Bo Derek to thank in part, or the nursery rhymeLittle Bo-Peep. In theToy Story animations (1995, 1999, 2010) Bo Peep (commonly referred to as simply "Bo") features as Woody's love interest.
At its peak (once again in 2012), Bo reached #654 (63 births) for girls which coincided with the first series ofThe Voice UK in whichBo Bruce (formerly Lady Catherine Brudenell-Bruce) was a contestant.
For boys, Bo peaked at #1483 (16 births) in 2010.
In 2016, Beau ranked #185 with 301 births, Bo was #1627 (15 births), Boe: #1804 (13 births), Beaux: #3478(5 births) and Bowe: #4810 (3 births).
For girls, Beau ranked #227 with 228 births, Bo was #1057(33 births), Bow: #1327(25 births),Beaux: #1571 (20 births), Boe: #4096 (5 births) and Bowe: #5785(3 births).
Beau (and its spelling variations) are also often used as a second part of hyphenated names for girls. The likes of Elsie-Beau, Isla-Beau, Ivy-Beau, Daisy-Beau etc have all ranked in the official data in recent years for girls. This, in part, has also contributed to the growing use of Beau for girls.
The same cannot be said for boys. No name featuring -Beau has officially ranked for boys since 1996 even though hyphenated male names are not uncommon.
It is also interesting to see the regional statistics for Beau for both boys and girls:
| N. East | N. West | Yorkshire | E. Midlands | W. Midlands | East | London | S. East | S. West | Wales | |
| Beau | #171 | #282 | #253 | #196 | #249 | #152 | #226 | #148 | #124 | #202 |
| Beau | #222 | #245 | #248 | #220 | #200 | #251 | #514 | #179 | #159 | #203 |
Interestingly, for both boys and girls, Beau ranks highest in the South West followed by the South East. From then on, however, we start to see a split with some areas ranking it higher for boys, and other favouring it for girls.
In Scotland, Beau is less common, ranking #304(12 births) for girls and #406(8 births) for boys in 2017. From 1974 it had no registrations at all until 1983 and then was used no more than 3 times in any given year for boys until 2008. From then, its use has fluctuated, peaking at #319 (11 births) in 2010.
It didn't rank for girls at all until 2002, after which it began to rise, and currently supersedes the use of Beau for boys. It peaked at #254 (16 births) for girls in 2013.
Further afield, Beau remains almost solely masculine in America where it ranks #156 for boys but doesn't rank in the top 1000 at all for girls. Beau also ranks for boys in top 100 in Australia (#65) and New Zealand (#46).
Beau is, however, unisex in the Netherlands, ranking #196 for boys and #201 for girls in 2017. This is most likely due to the popularity of the name Bo is currently #56 for Dutch girls.
Source: https://www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2018/06/name-of-the-week-beau.html#:~:text=Beau%20is%20a%20masculine%20singular,to%20fashionable%20men%20of%20society.
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