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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • English and French : nickname for a handsome man (perhaps also ironically for an ugly one), from Old French beu, bel ‘fair’, ‘lovely’ (Late Latin bellus).
  • Hungarian (Bél) : from the old secular Hungarian name Bél, or alternatively from bél ‘internal part’, probably an occupational name for a servant who worked in the household.
  • Czech (Běl) from Czech bílý ‘white’.

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