Ok, I don’t know if I would ever use [name]Isabeau[/name] but every so often it pops into my head. I also don’t if I’d pronounce it [name]Isa[/name] - [name]BO[/name] or [name]Isa[/name] - BOO.
What do you all think?
I’ve only heard it pronounced [name]Isabeau[/name]. NMS but it’s interesting, and I do prefer it to [name]Isabella[/name].
First: the pronunciation is [name]Isa[/name]-bo, not -boo. As a french speaker that is important to me. I just don’t like it when name pronunciations are just made-up.
The second thing that bothers me about this name is that -beau is male. -belle is the female version of this verb, -beau is the male. You can’t really compare that to anything in the English language as it doesn’t have gender specific verbs, but to me that is a grammatical error in a name and that really bothers me. Somehow gives me two possible negative impressions: The parents either didn’t know better, used a name from another language and didn’t check the background OR the parents knew and didn’t care which I feel is kind of ignorant. (Sorry, usually not that negative, but I read this name a lot and it really bothers me…)
So yeah, [name]Isabelle[/name] is the right version of this name.
Also, if you really want to use it despite this background, I feel the Isabo spelling would make the mistake a little less obvious.
This name fascinates me. I’ve always said it Iz-[name]Ah[/name]-[name]Bo[/name], with the last sylable pronounced like the french “beau.” I’d love to see some history or etymology for [name]Isabeau[/name]. 
My gut feeling is that it should actually be the masculine version of [name]Isabelle[/name], being as “[name]Beau[/name]” is the masculine form of “[name]Belle[/name],” but I’ve yet to find anything that either supports or contradicts that idea.
It’s pronounced Is-a boh. [name]Beau[/name] is french for Handsome and is pronounced BOH, therefore, is-a- boh
I like it, and I think it would be refreshing to see it instead of [name]Isabelle[/name].
I know it should be pronounced [name]BO[/name] but people do pronounce [name]Beau[/name] as Boo. If I ever did name a little girl [name]Isabeau[/name] I would probably end up calling her Boo anyway.
TaylorBlueSkye, I understand why that would annoy you, people mispronouncing Irish and Scottish names really annoys me!
I agree with taylorblueskye 100%.
@taylorblueskye I see your reasoning but [name]Isabeau[/name] is indeed a female name.
[name]Isabeau[/name] de Bavière was a queen consort of [name]France[/name], the name is “épicène”, I can’t explain it all because I’m on my phone but I explained [name]Isabeau[/name] VS [name]Mirabeau[/name] in a post once. Here is a wiki on it though and stats
Isabeau — Wikipédia
Prénom ISABEAU : signification, origines, fête, popularité
It is an old name, Middle ages, [name]Isabeau[/name] de Bavière, [name]Queen[/name] Consort of [name]France/name used it. Not sure why she used the male version of the name though.
I love it. But because it’s so close to the popular [name]Isabelle[/name] I’d never use it as I’m sure people would try to shorten it to [name]Izzie[/name].
It’s not a male name, its Épicène which basically means unisex, in [name]France[/name] it is rarely used but when it is, it’s used for girls.
I’m not good with explaining or understanding phonetic prn on nameberry but I would say Dante’s is the most accurate. For a person without a French accent you might actually prn it more correctly by trying to say “BOOH” because “beau” is really somewhere in between boh and booh, maybe someone else can explain that better if it doesn’t make sense or you can just listen below.
Audio links here:
Beau: http://www.forvo.com/word/beau/#fr
beau geste http://www.forvo.com/word/beau_geste/#fr
Isabeau: http://www.forvo.com/word/isabeau/#fr http://www.forvo.com/word/isabeau_de_bavière/#fr
@taylorblueskye, I agree it can be aggravating when names and words from other cultures are misappropriated and used on the wrong sex or otherwise incorrectly, but if you research [name]Isabeau[/name], you’ll see that isn’t what’s happening here. It’s an Old French form of [name]Isabel[/name], created with the -eau diminutive suffix, a favorite way to create diminiutives at the time that was seen as neither masculine nor feminine. It’s easy for us to look at [name]Isabeau[/name], see “beau,” and think “wow, how weirdly masculine,” but the fact that it spells the very manly beau is actually an accident.
I’ve loved [name]Isabeau[/name] since I was first exposed to it way back in the 80s through [name]Michelle[/name] [name]Pfeiffer[/name]'s character in Ladyhawke. When I read that [name]Henry[/name] VIII referred to the toddler [name]Princess[/name] [name]Elizabeth[/name] as “Madame Ysabeau” or “dear Ysabeau,” I loved it even more. I think it’s wonderfully medieval and unexpected. That said, I only like it with the correct “[name]BO[/name]” ending.
What goodhope said. ^
I don’t think [name]Isabeau[/name] is attractive at all…I know it’s a legitimate name, but it just doesn’t sound “real” to me. “Is a bow” is all I hear.
I really like [name]Isabeau[/name]. I think it’s classy, but also quite zestful, in that it could be considered quirky in many countries.
Sorry, didn’t mean to suggest [name]Isabeau[/name] is a male name, I meant that it used beau instead of belle, beau being the male version of the word beautiful.
I love the name.
I don’t think you did, a previous poster did. [name]Hope[/name] neither you nor the other poster who mentioned it felt attacked or anything 