Head to head · Boys' names
Beau vs Rowan
#60 vs #59 in 2025 · both climbing the charts fast
Rowan is a whisker ahead (#59 vs #60 in 2025) and both are climbing the charts fast. The records will not split these two — sound, story and your own last name will.
Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Rowan leads 5 measures of 6; Beau leads 1.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1910s: Beau —, Rowan #3667 — Rowan higher
- 1920s: Beau —, Rowan #3278 — Rowan higher
- 1930s: Beau #3776, Rowan #2819 — Rowan higher
- 1940s: Beau #3108, Rowan #2744 — Rowan higher
- 1950s: Beau #2323, Rowan #3093 — Beau higher
- 1960s: Beau #1195, Rowan #3279 — Beau higher
- 1970s: Beau #494, Rowan #3545 — Beau higher
- 1980s: Beau #308, Rowan #2871 — Beau higher
- 1990s: Beau #415, Rowan #1608 — Beau higher
- 2000s: Beau #437, Rowan #561 — Beau higher
- 2010s: Beau #237, Rowan #226 — Rowan higher
- 2020s: Beau #84, Rowan #87 — Beau higher
Beau stood higher in 7 of 12 decades; Beau took the 2020s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Beau | Rowan |
|---|---|---|
| 1910s | — | #3667 |
| 1920s | — | #3278 |
| 1930s | #3776 | #2819 |
| 1940s | #3108 | #2744 |
| 1950s | #2323 | #3093 |
| 1960s | #1195 | #3279 |
| 1970s | #494 | #3545 |
| 1980s | #308 | #2871 |
| 1990s | #415 | #1608 |
| 2000s | #437 | #561 |
| 2010s | #237 | #226 |
| 2020s | #84 | #87 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
Beau
- Canada#50
Rowan
- England & Wales#41
- Scotland#47
- Canada#64
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Beau
Handsome, beautiful (French)
bellus → bel → beau → Beau
How it traveled
The root is Latin bellus, "pretty, fine," which became bel and beau in Old French. English took the word in during the late seventeenth century to describe a fashionable man, and later a woman's suitor — a sense that survives in older novels and in the plural, beaux.
Rowan
'little red one' (Irish), or the rowan tree
Two genuine sources sit under one spelling. The Irish personal name Ruadhán, and the surname Ó Ruadháin that grew from it, come from ruadh, 'red' — a nickname for red hair or a ruddy face. Separately, rowan is the northern English and Scots word for the mountain ash, a tree word of Norse ancestry. Most modern American parents are choosing the tree; the older written record leans Irish. Neither reading cancels the other.
Ruadhán → Ó Ruadháin → Rowan
How it traveled
Ruadhán was a working Irish name long before it was a nature name: Saint Ruadhán of Lorrha, an abbot of the sixth century, is counted among the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, and his name passed into the surname Ó Ruadháin, anglicized as Rowan. The tree word traveled a different road — from Old Norse into the Scots and northern English speech of people who planted mountain ash by the door, a protective custom recorded in Scottish and Irish folk practice.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
Beau
BOH
Rhymes with go. It sounds exactly like the bow of bow and arrow, and like the name Bo, so the spelling usually has to be given aloud.
- Bo — A separate spelling of the same sound, used informally for a Beau and also given on its own as a full name.
- Beauregard — Runs the other way: the longer American name that Beau has historically served as the short form of, now rarely used itself.
Rowan
ROH-ən
Stress on the first syllable, which rhymes with 'go'. In parts of Britain the tree itself is said ROW-ən, with the vowel of 'cow', so you may occasionally hear that pronunciation for the name too — in the United States the ROH-ən version is standard and rarely questioned.
- Ro — The most common short form, used informally at home and among friends; works the same for a boy or a girl.
- Rowe — Informal clip that keeps the full vowel; also exists independently as an English surname.
- Roo — A family-and-toddler nickname more than a school one; tends to fall away as a child gets older.
Who has carried each name
Beau
Beau Bridges (b. 1941) — Emmy-collecting actor of a famous acting family
Rowan
Rowan Atkinson (b. 1955) — Mr. Bean himself
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Beau if you want…
- a name with fewer syllablesBeau is 1 syllable to Rowan's 2
Choose Rowan if you want…
- a name with more sound in itRowan runs 2 syllables, Beau 1
- a name that charts abroad tooRowan is on the national lists of England & Wales, Scotland and Canada
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
Beau
Strengths
- One syllable and one pronunciation — anyone who hears it can say it back correctly.
- The spelling is already familiar to English speakers from the word itself and from beaux, so it reads on paper without instruction.
- Needs no nickname and takes none: it works unchanged from a nursery door to a business card.
To consider
- In English, beau still carries its older sense of a sweetheart or suitor. Most people never think of it; a few will remark on it.
- Because Beau and Bo sound identical, expect a lifetime of spelling it out over the phone and on forms.
- The name is climbing quickly. A Beau born now will likely be the only one in his class, but may meet several others by adulthood.
Rowan
Strengths
- Phonetically transparent: nearly everyone reads ROH-ən correctly on first sight, with no silent letters to explain.
- Charts in England and Wales, Scotland and Canada as well as the United States, so it crosses English-speaking borders without adjustment.
- A documented history in two directions — an Irish saint's name and a northern tree word — giving a family more than one true story to tell.
To consider
- Rowen, Rowyn and Rowin all exist as alternate spellings, and Rohan is a separate name that sounds close. Expect to spell it out fairly often, even though the pronunciation itself gives no trouble.
- Most Rowans are boys, but a real minority are girls — so a girl Rowan will sometimes be assumed male on a class list or a form, and a boy Rowan will occasionally meet someone who has known only girls with the name.
- It is climbing quickly. A child born now will likely meet more Rowans among their own age group than the current numbers suggest, even if none of them ends up in the same classroom.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear Beau and Rowan in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between Beau and Rowan?
Put both to the vote.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
Every list here names both Beau and Rowan — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Beau or Rowan — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Beau or Rowan?
- Rowan, in 2025: Rowan ranked #59 with 5,212 babies; Beau ranked #60 with 5,165 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Beau or Rowan?
- Rowan. Over the last five years Beau moved up 49 places; Rowan moved up 54 places.
- Which is the older name, Beau or Rowan?
- Beau entered the US charts in 1932; Rowan entered the US charts in 1916. On the American record, Rowan is the older name.
- How many people are named Beau and Rowan?
- About 64,000 people named Beau are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 50,000 people named Rowan are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Beaus or Rowans in the classroom?
- Beau will almost certainly be the only one in school. Rowan will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
Keep playing
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