Find out how popular the last name Beaulieu is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Beaulieu.

Beaulieu, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Beaulieu surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Beaulieu in America

Beaulieu is the 3349th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Beaulieu surname appeared 10,695 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Beaulieu.

We can also compare 2010 data for Beaulieu to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Beaulieu

The surname Beaulieu originated in France, deriving from the Old French words "beau" meaning beautiful and "lieu" meaning place. It emerged during the medieval period, likely first appearing as a toponymic surname given to someone who hailed from a location bearing this name.

Beaulieu is found in various regions across France, with notable place names including Beaulieu-sur-Mer in Provence and Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne in the Corrèze department. These place names reflect the scenic beauty of these areas, which may have inspired the surname's meaning.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Beaulieu can be found in the Dives-sur-Mer cartulary, a medieval manuscript from Normandy dating back to the 11th century. This document mentions a person named Radulfus de Bello Loco, a Latin form of the surname.

In England, the Domesday Book of 1086 lists a landholder named Rainaldus de Bellu, which is believed to be an early variant of the surname Beaulieu. This suggests that the name may have been introduced to England shortly after the Norman Conquest.

Notable individuals throughout history who bore the surname Beaulieu include Étienne Beaulieu (1240-1314), a French philosopher and theologian; Jean-Pierre Beaulieu (1725-1805), a French architect responsible for several notable buildings in Paris; and Sébastien Beaulieu (1703-1774), a French engraver and illustrator whose works depicted various historical events and figures.

In the United States, one of the earliest recorded instances of the surname Beaulieu was Mathieu Beaulieu, a French settler who arrived in Louisiana in the early 18th century and became one of the first European inhabitants of the region.

Another notable figure was Eustache Beaulieu (1702-1771), a French-Canadian fur trader and explorer who was one of the first Europeans to extensively travel and map the Rocky Mountains region in what is now western Canada and the United States.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Beaulieu

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Beaulieu.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Beaulieu was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Beaulieu has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Beaulieu was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Beaulieu, please contact us.

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