The Beard surname
In the 2010 U.S. Census, 48,207 people carried this name — #721 among all U.S. surnames, about 1 in every 6,120 people counted. That is up 2% from 47,128 in 2000.
What the name means
The meaning of the Beard surname
Originally a nickname for someone with a beard.
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary (en.wiktionary.org) — entry «Beard» (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 276 people named Beard.
17 of them were born outside France. Those born in France came from 36 départements, most often Savoie.
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
60 people named Beard live in Switzerland.
They live in 5 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 the Nordic population registers
20 people named Beard is counted in Sweden.
Sweden’s figure is from 31 December 2022, the last count Statistics Sweden published.
Counted, by country
Own calculations based on data from Statistics Sweden (SCB), surnames with at least two bearers, 31 December 2022 — CC BY 4.0 (names with 20 or more bearers shown).
In print
Beard in American newspapers,
1917–1920.
Chronicling America, Library of Congress — digitised newspapers in the public domain · 1,393,094 pages in all carry the name.
Who carried it
People named Beard,
with a public archive behind them.
-
Thomas Beard 1568–1632 · writer -
John Beard 1716–1791 · opera singer -
Ed Beard d. 1873
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Geraldine Louisa Vesey d. 1945
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Anne Augusta Wolseley d. 1907
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Rachel Robins 1626–1681
Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons (CC0) · 10 lives in all are documented under this name.
Nearby in the index
Surnames next to Beard.
- Bazzo 113 · U.S. census
- Bazzoli 124 · U.S. census
- Be 1,146 · U.S. census
- Bea 895 · U.S. census
- Beal 20,752 · U.S. census
- Beale 7,431 · 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
- Beauchemin 1,390 · U.S. census
- Beauchene 484 · U.S. census
When the index is not enough
This page says where Beard 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.