Family name origins & meanings
- English (of Norman origin) : habitational name from any of several places in France called Beauvoir, for example in Manche, Somme, and Seine-Maritime, or from Belvoir in Leicestershire. All of these are named with Old French beu, bel ‘fair’, ‘lovely’ + veïr, voir ‘to see’, i.e. a place with a fine view.
- English : nickname from Middle English bevere, Old English beofor ‘beaver’, possibly referring to a hard worker, or from some other fancied resemblance to the animal.
- Probably a translation of cognates of 2 in other languages, in particular DutchBever and German Bieber.
- Possibly a variant of Welsh Bevan.
- George Beaver, a Huguenot from Alsace, came to Philadelphia, PA, in 1744.