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in reply to a message by RuralRuna
Of course not. Dutch people are well aware that beau is a French word. Just the spelling alone gives it away for even the most ill-educated in French, as that sort of sequence of vowels does not occur naturally in Dutch.
I suppose the average Dutch person does not know the difference between beau and belle. They are probably unaware that the former is masculine and the latter feminine, and thus instead take them to be neutral gender-wise. This is understandable, because honestly, most people would probably end up doing that with words from a foreign language. Can *you* tell at a glance if a word is masculine or feminine in, say, German or Polish? If not, wouldn't you be more likely to perceive it as neutral instead?
To confuse matters further, there is Isabeau. A feminine name (genuinely of French origin at that), yet it contains beau. I don't blame people for thinking something along the lines of: "Well, if it's okay in that name, then why not use Beau on its own for women? Especially since Beau could be a short form of Isabeau."
You know... and sometimes prospective parents' reasoning is a bit more superficial than that. "I love the spelling!" or "I love the sound of the name!". If they are aware that it is grammatically incorrect in French, then most of them will be like: "Sod that! I love the name and the average Dutch person won't notice, so I will just use it for my daughter."
TL;DR: the meaning remains the same. There are different reasons for why Dutch people choose to bestow the name upon their daughters.
Forchta in biuonga quamon ouer mi, in bethecoda mi thuisternussi.
In ic quad: "uuie sal geuan mi fetheron also duuon, in ic fliugon sal in raston sal?"
I suppose the average Dutch person does not know the difference between beau and belle. They are probably unaware that the former is masculine and the latter feminine, and thus instead take them to be neutral gender-wise. This is understandable, because honestly, most people would probably end up doing that with words from a foreign language. Can *you* tell at a glance if a word is masculine or feminine in, say, German or Polish? If not, wouldn't you be more likely to perceive it as neutral instead?
To confuse matters further, there is Isabeau. A feminine name (genuinely of French origin at that), yet it contains beau. I don't blame people for thinking something along the lines of: "Well, if it's okay in that name, then why not use Beau on its own for women? Especially since Beau could be a short form of Isabeau."
You know... and sometimes prospective parents' reasoning is a bit more superficial than that. "I love the spelling!" or "I love the sound of the name!". If they are aware that it is grammatically incorrect in French, then most of them will be like: "Sod that! I love the name and the average Dutch person won't notice, so I will just use it for my daughter."
TL;DR: the meaning remains the same. There are different reasons for why Dutch people choose to bestow the name upon their daughters.
In ic quad: "uuie sal geuan mi fetheron also duuon, in ic fliugon sal in raston sal?"
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