Beauregard

Beauregard is a French surname meaning "beautiful view" — from "beau" (beautiful) and "regard" (view, appearance). It has the elaborate, slightly pompous quality of old Southern American aristocratic naming, carrying both genuine grandeur and an irresistible theatrical quality.

Beauregard is a name you commit to entirely or not at all — it is four syllables of magnificent Southern Gothic pretension, and it is glorious. Mostly shortened to Beau in everyday use, the full Beauregard is deployed for formal occasions, reprimands, or the simple pleasure of hearing it ring out across a park. Pets named Beauregard tend to be treated with a particular mixture of affection and mock ceremony that suits the name perfectly. A name for the grandly beloved, the slightly ridiculous, the absolutely adored.