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Beh (surname)

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Beh
Language(s)German, Chinese (Southern Min), others
Origin
Meaning
  • Chinese (馬): horse
  • Chinese (麥): wheat
  • Chinese (白): white
  • German: Bohemian
Other names
Variant form(s)
  • Chinese (馬): Ma, Mar
  • Chinese (麥): Mai, Mak
  • Chinese (白): Bai, Bak
  • German: Boehm

Beh is a surname in various cultures. It may be a variant of the German surname Boehm, as well as a Southern Min spelling of three Chinese surnames Ma, Mai, and Bai.

Origins

As a German surname, Beh may have originated as a variant of Boehm, which is a toponymic surname from Bohemia. It is also a spelling of Southern Min pronunciations of three Chinese surnames, listed in the table below. These spellings of the Chinese surnames are often found among Malaysian Chinese.

Chinese characters Mandarin Southern Min References
Hokkien Teochew
Traditional Simplified Pinyin Pe̍h-ōe-jī IPA Peng'im IPA
馬 马 Mǎ Bé, Bée /be⁵³/, /bɛ⁵³/ Bhê /be⁵²/
麥 麦 Mài Be̍h, Be̍eh /beʔ²⁴/ Bhêh /beʔ⁴/
白 Bái Pe̍h /peʔ²⁴/ Bêh /peʔ⁴/

It is also a surname among the Krahn people of Liberia and the Ivory Coast.

Statistics

According to statistics compiled by Patrick Hanks on the basis of the 2011 United Kingdom census and the Census of Ireland 2011, 74 people on the island of Great Britain and none on the island of Ireland bore the surname Beh in 2011. The 1881 United Kingdom census did not find anyone with this surname. The 2010 United States Census found 513 people with the surname Beh, making it the 42,308th-most-common name overall. This represented an increase from 365 (53,191st-most-common) in the 2000 Census. In both censuses, slightly more than half of the bearers of the surname identified as non-Hispanic white, between 20% and 25% as Asian, and roughly 15% as Black.

People

References

  1. ^ Hanks, Patrick; Coates, Richard; McClure, Peter, eds. (2016). The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland. Oxford University Press. p. 191. ISBN 9780192527479.
  2. Jones, Russell (August 1959). "Chinese Names: Notes on the use of surnames & personal names by the Chinese in Malaya". Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. 32 (187). JSTOR 41505683.
  3. Fielde, Adele M. (1883). "馬". A pronouncing and defining dictionary of the Swatow dialect, arranged according to syllables and tones. Shanghai: American Presbyterian Mission Press. p. 11. Additionally see "馬". mogher.com. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  4. Fielde 1883, 麥 (p. 12). Additionally see "麥". mogher.com. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  5. Fielde 1883, 白 (p. 423). Additionally see "白". mogher.com. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
  6. "How common is your last name?". Newsday. Retrieved 8 February 2022.
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