The Beal surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 20,752 people carried this name — #1,726 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 14,200 people counted. That is up 4% from 19,922 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Beal surname
Named after several places in England, from Old English beo (“bee”) + hyll (“hill”).
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Beal» (English), by Wiktionary contributors · licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) · excerpt, lightly adapted.
In France’s civil register
France’s register of deaths holds 2,453 people named Beal.
31 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 70 départements, most often Loire.
Where it concentrates, on the mapWhere they were born
Fichier des personnes décédées, INSEE — Licence Ouverte 2.0 · deaths recorded in France since 1970, by place of birth.
In Switzerland’s population statistics
21 people named Beal live in Switzerland.
They live in 2 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, most of all in Vaud.
Too few records to say where it concentrates region by region — these are plain counts, not shares.
Where they live today
Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), «Surnames of the permanent resident population by canton», 2025, opendata.swiss/en/dataset/nachnamen-der-standigen-wohnbevolkerung-nach-kanton3 · names with fewer than 3 bearers in a canton are not published.
In print
Beal in American newspapers,
1890–1896.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 3,161,102 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Beal,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Joseph Sampson Beal 1814–1885 · politician -
George Beal 1824–1892 · politician -
James Beal 1829–1891 · auctioneer -
Melvin Beal 1832–1916 · politician -
William Beal 1815–1870 · writer
-
James Henry Beal 1823–1904
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Beal.
- Bazzani 270 · U.S. census
- Bazzano 492 · U.S. census
- Bazzo 113 · U.S. census
- Bazzoli 124 · U.S. census
- Be 1,146 · U.S. census
- Bea 895 · U.S. census
- Beale 7,431 · U.S. census
- Beard 48,207 · U.S. census
- Beato 1,404 · U.S. census
- Beau 297 · U.S. census
- Beaubrun 1,051 · U.S. census
- Beauchamp 11,865 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Beal is.
A volume says what happened to it.
Every page in the index is free and stays free. The Heritage Volume is the long form: the full paper trail, the arms, the crossing — bound, and yours.