Belcourt

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name of French origin carried by people in North America and elsewhere ; a name given to a small town in North Dakota and to several other places
2. A surname borne by various people, often of French-Canadian descent ; the name of a community in North Dakota and of a historic mansion in Rhode Island
3. A hereditary family name derived from French ; a designation for a North Dakota town and other localities with the same name

Etymology: "Belcourt" is a surname and place name borrowed from French, where it is made of "beau" meaning "beautiful" and "court" meaning "court" or "courtyard". The name thus describes a fine or pleasant enclosure, a sense that suited the country houses and estates that bore it. The word reached English as a proper name rather than as a common noun, so its story is one of a family or place identity carried across the Channel. Because it names people and locations instead of things, it has no dictionary sense of its own beyond the reference to a particular bearer or site.