Family name origins & meanings
- German : of uncertain origin; probably from Old High German būan ‘to live at a place’, or an occupational name from Middle High German bū, bou ‘cultivation’ or perhaps from a short form of compounds with this element, such as Bauhofer, Baumann.
- French : of uncertain origin. Perhaps a variant of Beau meaning ‘handsome’, though it has also been suggested that it may derive from an obsolete personal name of Germanic origin.
- Chinese :
variant of
Bao 1. - Chinese :
variant of Bao 2. - Chinese :
variant of Bao 3. - A Bau from the Angoumois region in France is recorded in Montreal in 1667; another, also known as Lebeau and Lalouette, from the Poitou region, is documented in Boucherville, Quebec, in 1672.