Beau
Beau was given to 5,165 boys in 2025, #60 among boys’ names; 66,603 Americans have been recorded with it since 1932 (Social Security Administration, published May 2026).
An estimated 65,100 Americans named Beau and born in the U.S. are alive in 2026 (98% of everyone recorded); the median is 9 years old and half are between 4 and 25.
Girls and boys together; gaps are years SSA did not record (fewer than 5 births).
Births of Beau by year: SSA national baby-name file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
What does Beau mean?
Wiktionary, English section
Beau is “a male given name used since mid-twentieth century.”
Shortened from surname type given names such as Beauregard or Beaumont, or from the French word beau.
/boʊ/
Meaning: Wiktionary, English section, as of Sep 25, 2026 (CC BY‑SA 4.0).
How popular is Beau?
#60 among boys’ names, 2025
Beau rose from #203 in 2015 to #60 in 2025 among boys’ names; its share of boys born rose from 1.0 to 3.0 per 1,000.
5,224 babies in 2025, the peak
Beau peaked in 2025, when 5,224 babies were given it (5,165 boys, #60 among boys’ names). In 2024 it went to 4,704 boys.
Births by sex.
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 5,165 | #60 | 3.0 |
| 2024 | 4,704 | #69 | 2.7 |
| 2023 | 4,100 | #81 | 2.4 |
| 2022 | 3,958 | #90 | 2.3 |
| 2021 | 3,815 | #94 | 2.2 |
| 2020 | 3,344 | #109 | 1.9 |
| 2019 | 2,933 | #132 | 1.6 |
| 2018 | 2,598 | #151 | 1.4 |
| 2017 | 2,511 | #157 | 1.4 |
| 2016 | 2,125 | #189 | 1.1 |
Every recorded year (86)
| Year | Births | Rank | Per 1,000 boys |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 1,980 | #203 | 1.0 |
| 2014 | 1,634 | #230 | 0.85 |
| 2013 | 1,300 | #272 | 0.69 |
| 2012 | 1,069 | #310 | 0.56 |
| 2011 | 852 | #352 | 0.45 |
| 2010 | 766 | #375 | 0.40 |
| 2009 | 751 | #397 | 0.38 |
| 2008 | 749 | #396 | 0.37 |
| 2007 | 691 | #422 | 0.33 |
| 2006 | 624 | #437 | 0.30 |
| 2005 | 646 | #416 | 0.32 |
| 2004 | 649 | #402 | 0.33 |
| 2003 | 612 | #420 | 0.31 |
| 2002 | 452 | #504 | 0.23 |
| 2001 | 453 | #504 | 0.23 |
| 2000 | 507 | #467 | 0.26 |
| 1999 | 469 | #477 | 0.24 |
| 1998 | 498 | #449 | 0.26 |
| 1997 | 469 | #466 | 0.25 |
| 1996 | 528 | #427 | 0.28 |
| 1995 | 520 | #440 | 0.27 |
| 1994 | 588 | #395 | 0.30 |
| 1993 | 535 | #423 | 0.27 |
| 1992 | 585 | #390 | 0.29 |
| 1991 | 693 | #351 | 0.34 |
| 1990 | 732 | #337 | 0.36 |
| 1989 | 574 | #384 | 0.29 |
| 1988 | 594 | #350 | 0.31 |
| 1987 | 514 | #375 | 0.28 |
| 1986 | 664 | #308 | 0.36 |
| 1985 | 660 | #310 | 0.36 |
| 1984 | 698 | #292 | 0.39 |
| 1983 | 559 | #331 | 0.31 |
| 1982 | 677 | #296 | 0.37 |
| 1981 | 1,027 | #229 | 0.57 |
| 1980 | 1,207 | #203 | 0.68 |
| 1979 | 666 | #299 | 0.39 |
| 1978 | 478 | #352 | 0.29 |
| 1977 | 489 | #355 | 0.30 |
| 1976 | 373 | #401 | 0.24 |
| 1975 | 250 | #506 | 0.16 |
| 1974 | 207 | #557 | 0.13 |
| 1973 | 186 | #581 | 0.12 |
| 1972 | 155 | #635 | 0.10 |
| 1971 | 174 | #628 | 0.10 |
| 1970 | 167 | #627 | 0.09 |
| 1969 | 89 | #817 | 0.05 |
| 1968 | 53 | #1,018 | 0.03 |
| 1967 | 56 | #968 | 0.03 |
| 1966 | 52 | #1,007 | 0.03 |
| 1965 | 47 | #1,081 | 0.03 |
| 1964 | 41 | #1,200 | 0.02 |
| 1963 | 36 | #1,305 | 0.02 |
| 1962 | 44 | #1,171 | 0.02 |
| 1961 | 39 | #1,262 | 0.02 |
| 1960 | 15 | #2,132 | 0.01 |
| 1959 | 22 | #1,721 | 0.01 |
| 1958 | 15 | #2,102 | 0.01 |
| 1956 | 8 | #2,986 | under 0.01 |
| 1955 | 20 | #1,728 | 0.01 |
| 1954 | 6 | #3,480 | under 0.01 |
| 1953 | 20 | #1,714 | 0.01 |
| 1952 | 13 | #2,158 | 0.01 |
| 1951 | 9 | #2,675 | under 0.01 |
| 1950 | 10 | #2,447 | 0.01 |
| 1949 | 5 | #3,732 | under 0.01 |
| 1948 | 6 | #3,347 | under 0.01 |
| 1947 | 6 | #3,396 | under 0.01 |
| 1946 | 10 | #2,409 | 0.01 |
| 1945 | 5 | #3,372 | under 0.01 |
| 1944 | 6 | #3,130 | under 0.01 |
| 1943 | 5 | #3,585 | under 0.01 |
| 1942 | 5 | #3,604 | under 0.01 |
| 1941 | 12 | #2,091 | 0.01 |
| 1940 | 8 | #2,681 | 0.01 |
| 1932 | 5 | #3,819 | under 0.01 |
Ranks and shares: boys’ names in each year’s SSA file; share of all boys SSA recorded that year.
Is Beau a boy’s or a girl’s name?
Of the 66,603 Americans recorded as Beau, 2% are girls and 98% boys. In 2025 it went to 59 girls and 5,165 boys.
Years with fewer than 20 babies given the name are left blank.
Girls and boys named Beau: the SSA national file counts each sex separately.
How many people are named Beau, and how old are they?
65,100 alive in 2026, estimated
That is 98% of the 66,603 Americans ever recorded as Beau. The median Beau alive today is 9 years old; half are between 4 and 25.
The 2020 Census counted 38,089 people named Beau (688 women and girls, 37,401 men and boys). SSA’s births carried forward to Census day, April 1, 2020, predict 41,013 born in the U.S. The Census count is 7% below that prediction.
Alive today, by age
Alive today, by generation
| Generation | Born | Alive |
|---|---|---|
| Silent Generation | 1928-1945 | 15 |
| Baby Boomers | 1946-1964 | 232 |
| Generation X | 1965-1980 | 4,250 |
| Millennials | 1981-1996 | 9,710 |
| Generation Z | 1997-2012 | 10,300 |
| Generation Alpha | 2013-2025 | 40,500 |
An estimate, not a count. SSA’s files count people born in the United States who received a Social Security number, so anyone born abroad is not in them; before 1937 most people got a number as adults, and their survival is counted from that age.
Living estimate: SSA births carried forward with the survival rates in SSA’s cohort life tables (2024 Trustees Report) for each birth year and sex. How the estimate is made. Count: Census Bureau, first names in the 2020 Census (released April 14, 2026; names reported 100 or more times, with the Bureau’s disclosure-avoidance adjustment).
Where are babies named Beau born?
The states with the most babies named Beau are Texas, California and Ohio, with 19% of its births recorded by state in 2025.
| State | Births 2025 | Rank, boys | vs. national |
|---|---|---|---|
| Texas | 413 | #99 | 0.8× |
| California | 361 | #112 | 0.7× |
| Ohio | 233 | #40 | 1.1× |
| Florida | 231 | #94 | 0.7× |
| Pennsylvania | 213 | #51 | 0.9× |
| Michigan | 185 | #36 | 0.9× |
| Illinois | 173 | #57 | 0.8× |
| Tennessee | 167 | #31 | 1.1× |
| Georgia | 162 | #65 | 0.8× |
| Missouri | 157 | #24 | 1.3× |
Where Beau is more common than its national share predicts
Relative to its national share, Beau is most over-represented in Montana: since 1932 it was given 2.4 times as often there as its national share each year would predict.
States: SSA state file, 1910-2025, published May 8, 2026; births count girls and boys together, and the rank is among boys’ names in the state in 2025. The file leaves out any state and year with fewer than 5 babies of the name, so small states are undercounted; each ratio compares the state’s births of Beau with the births its national share predicts year by year, for states with at least 100 births of the name.
Names spelled alike
Of these 2 names spelled alike, given to 68,303 babies since 1880, Beau is the most given (98% of them). In 2025 it was given to 5,224 of their 5,232 babies (100%), again the most given.
Spelled alike: names in the SSA national file with the same pattern of letters and sounds and at most two letters apart, and Wiktionary’s listed forms; births since 1880 and in 2025, and each name’s peak year, from the SSA national file, published May 8, 2026. Some are separate names, not spellings of one.
Names that rose and fell in the same decades as Beau
Names whose births rose and fell across the same decades, measured on each decade’s share of births.
Similar histories: each decade’s share of births, from the SSA national file, 1880-2025, published May 8, 2026. SSA’s notes on the data.
More about Beau and names like it
- Compare Beau and BeeBirths, ranks, peak and the living estimate side by side.
- The most given names of the 2020sBeau peaked in 2025.
- California’s most given namesThe state where SSA recorded the most babies named Beau since 1910.
- The top names of 2025The year the most babies were named Beau.
- The names of Generation AlphaMost people named Beau alive today were born 2013-2025.
- Names starting with BMost given first.