Family name origins & meanings
- English and Irish (of Norman origin) : habitational name from any of the various places in northern France, such as Belleu (Aisne), named in Old French with bel ‘beautiful’ + l(i)eu ‘place’, or from Belleau (Meurthe-et-Moselle), which is named with Old French bel ‘lovely’ + ewe ‘water’ (Latin aqua), or from Bellou (Calvados), which is probably named with a Gaulish word meaning ‘watercress’. Compare French Beaulieu.
- In 1651 a Major William Bellew was granted 406 acres of land in Henrico Co., VA. In 1652 Lieut. Col. Bellew (possibly the same man), with another, was granted 1050 acres in James City Co.