Family name origins & meanings
- English (of Norman origin) and French : habitational name from various places in France named Beaufort, for example in Nord, Somme, and Pas-de-Calais, from Old French beu, bel ‘fair’, ‘lovely’ + fort ‘fortress’, ‘stronghold’.
- A powerful English family of this name originated with the bastard children of John of Gaunt and Catherine Swinford, who were legitimized by Act of Parliament. Their name was derived from their father’s castle, Beaufort, in Champagne.