This was the name of a 13th-century Italian saint who made clothes for the poor. As an English name, it has never been common.
In England the name became rare after the Middle Ages, but it was revived in the 19th century, more commonly in the spelling Beatrice. Famous bearers include the British author and illustrator Beatrix Potter (1866-1943), the creator of Peter Rabbit, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (1938-).
A famous bearer was the Cuban-French writer Anaïs Nin (1903-1977), known for her diaries.