Explore the Family Name Beaufort

The meaning of Beaufort

French and English (of Norman and French Huguenot origin): habitational name from (Le) Beaufort, the name of several places in various parts of France, notably in Nord, Somme, and Pas-de-Calais, from Old French bel ‘beautiful’ + fort ‘fort, fortified castle’. The surname Beaufort is rare in Britain. Compare Beauford, Buford, and Blueford. History: A powerful English family of this name originated in the 14th century with the bastard children of John of Gaunt and Catherine Swinford, who were legitimized by Act of Parliament. Their name was derived from their father’s castle, Beaufort, in Champagne. Henry Beaufort (c.1377–1447) became a cardinal and papal legate; his brother Thomas (died 1427) became Duke of Exeter; a third brother, John (died 1407), became Earl of Somerset. The latter’s granddaughter, Margaret Beaufort (1443–1509) married Edmund Tudor, half-brother of Henry VI, and was the mother of Henry VII. — The English admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (1774–1857), who devised the Beaufort scale, used for measuring wind velocity, was the grandson of a French Huguenot refugee, Daniel de Beaufort, who became pastor of a church in Spitalfields, London. Members of this Huguenot family also settled in VA at the end of the 17th century. Their surname is listed along with the altered forms Beauford and Buford in the (US) National Huguenot Society’s register of qualified Huguenot ancestors. — In North America, this surname was originally also a secondary surname or dit (‘also called’) name, borne by Hilaire Limousin dit Beaufort from Poitiers, France, who married Antoinette Lefebvre in QC in 1671. Some characteristic forenames: French Normand.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.