Beatrice

Beatrice is the French or Italian form of Beatrix. According to Ask Oxford, Beatrix probably came from a combination of the Latin Viator and Beatus. Since the former meant "voyager" and the latter meant "blessed," Beatrice can be taken to mean "blessed voyager." Beatrice was a character in Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing," but is probably more well known as the name of the lady with whom Dante was obsessed. Beatrice was a popular name in England during the Middle Ages, and like many other names that appeared in classic literature, was strongly popular again in the 19th century, when it was very occasionally even given to boys. This popularity continued into the 20th century; in the United States Beatrice appeared consistently in the top 100 names for girls until the 1930's. After that, the name began to be considered old fashioned and declined steadily in popularity. Beatrice has not appeared in the top 1000 in the U.S. since 2001. More recently, well-known bearers of the name Beatrice include Princess Beatrice of York, and Beatrice McCartney, the daughter of Paul McCartney and Heather Mills. Nicknames for Beatrice include Bea and Trixie.