To say that 'Beau' is not a girls' name?

[mrsb26]

Over the past few months, I've come across an increasing number of baby girls named 'Beau.'

Am I wrong on assuming that this is French in origin, meaning 'handsome?' (or the masculine form of beautiful). Surely Belle is then the feminine form?

One was even spelt Beaux. This is the plural, right? The X doesn't make it feminine?!

Idk, maybe people don't really focus on definitions of names. Just found it a bit odd that it's becoming a bit of a trend.

I know a not very pleasant girl called Beau, horrible name for boy or girl, imo

Edith

That's exactly what my Russian sister in law said when we talked about Russian diminutives (I find how many there are for one single name really interesting and grilled her a bit).

I have two relatives with the same name, Kerry. One male and one female. They also share the same surname.
Confused the hell out of me as a kid.

I often wonder why, out of all the lovely names there are out there people choose to ignore them all and go for ones which are going to give your child grief (always having to spell it out) all their lives. I often wonder if it's because they think they're special and normal names aren't good enough for them.

"It can't just be me who expects Sasha to be a girl? "

Sasha is a pet form of Alexandr, though. Pet forms of Russian names commonly end in "a", whether masculine or feminine e.g. Maria - Masha, Nicolai - Nikita etc.

"Normal names "

What's a "normal" name, though? Surely deciding that is very arbitrary?

While it's true that 'beau' can be an abstract masculine noun - it's not really used, the French say 'beaute' (scuz no accents on iPad) in that context. And the noun has its feminine version - belle - as in 'jouer la belle' which means to play the winning hand, or 'se faire la belle' which means to escape.

So as both adjective and noun the feminine form exists - which is hairsplitting anyway as the name uses the adjectival sense.

As in the UK people less well-educated might get grammar or spelling wrong - such as would of, could of, it's its, their there etc, in France that includes mistaking masculine for feminine words.

So in France, Beau for a girl would just look ignorant rather than cool, and I'm must say I've never come across a French girl called Beau.

I don't think it's fair to give a name that people will continuously ask how to spell. I know from experience what a ball ache that is. Can make you a bit resentful towards the parent who gave you that name too.

A female friend was named Rene instead of Renee because her parents didn't do due diligence in selecting a name and it's been an embarrassment and inconvenience to her all of her 45 years.

Well why didn't she just change her name by adding the extra e? Seems the obvious solution.

She didn't want to hurt her parents' feelings by underscoring their error.

Twinklestein actually that's not really true, native French speakers rarely makes mistakes of noun gender, no matter their level of education. Equivalent to their/they're etc. would be conjugation (Omar m'a tuer) or hononyms (ce/se). As mentioned upthread, I've not come across Beau as a girl's name in 20 years teaching in France but Isabeau is pretty trendy.

I don't think you are allowed to christen your son (or daughter) "Beau" in France, but I might be wrong. I certainly haven't met a Frenchman of that name. And everyone knows "Belle" is a dog's name in France. I would be judgey about Beau for a girl, but am half French.

Twinklestein actually that's not really true, native French speakers rarely makes mistakes of noun gender, no matter their level of education

It is true, I've seen/heard a few examples even quite recently (we live in Paris, my husband's French.)

I wasn't implying it was an equivalent to their/they're - I was just using those as examples of types of linguistic mistake. It's not as common as mistakes where the sound is the same (ce/se, bouge/bouger, ca/sa) or spelling mistakes, but it does happen.

For example, nouns that are commonly used with plural (des/les), gender isn't always obvious. Equally people make mistakes with nouns that start with a vowel, and so have 'l' instead of le or la in front of them.

Examples that even native French get wrong:
Aparte (masculine)
Anagramme (feminine)
Embleme (masculine)
Meteore (masculine)
Pore (masculine)
Tentacule (masculine)
Apres-midi (can be both masculine and feminine)
Gens (ditto)
Amour (masculine in singular, feminine in plural)
Orgue and delice also have dual genders.

It may be that a word is unusual, or that it's always used in set structures that don't reveal the gender.

Isabeau may be a play on the fact that the ending of Isabel looks masculine (bel/belle). Varying the ending of an existing female name is not the same as arrogating a new name.

And everyone knows "Belle" is a dog's name in France

Belle!

Et Sebastien!

Salut voisine, I live in the 93 and my husband is French

Yes there are a handful of words that will trip native speakers up, you've pretty much listed them all. Much like even educated native English speakers will mix up discrete / discreet. However, I think that's a bit of a different matter from routinely saying "le voiture" or "la chien".

FWIW Isabeau isn't a recent invention, it's medieval chic, like Aliénor or Mahaut.

Anyway this is all getting a bit off point. I wouldn't choose Beau for a girl personally but it seems to be gaining ground in the UK, so who am I to judge?

Beau American shortening of Beauregard, meaning beautiful gaze. Typically a male name in USA (little girl on movie "signs" called beau), bo is a very common Scandinavian female name. Lots of boys names are now girls names, Casey, Reece, Dylan etc...
And belles a dogs name in France is it? Well the most popular dog and cat name in the UK is poppy.
Hoick your judgy pants high!

i know of a little girl named 'piper bleu' with a thingy over the 'e'
sounds daft imo
old gimmer cant abide hyphenated/double barreled names they sound so pretentious

I don't think Dylan is strictly speaking considered to be a "girls" name just yet.

Haven't met anyone who spells Rhys as Reece for a first name either, thank god.

Reece Witherspoon?

Aw, lovely lovely Reece Dinsdale. I wonder what happened to him?

I think that's a bit of a different matter from routinely saying "le voiture" or "la chien"

Which I never actually said. Salut, we're in the 16th.

I'm aware Isabeau is a medieval name, I did I of Bavaria for A level, I'm just speculating on the 3 different endings and the current popularity of Isabeau.

There are plenty of US/UK boys' names that are now also girls' names but it's different when you have a gendered language. Beau isn't a even boy's name in France it's just a masculine word.