Comments for the name Beulah

This name is pronounced beh-oo-lah in Hebrew.

My parents hung me with this name at birth. I've always hated it, so I finally had it legally changed. Think of Ben Stein saying "Bueller," over and over in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." I grew up being called almost that by my family, though I never used it or introduced myself that way. Don't do this to your little girl!

I don't like this name. Not only is it unpleasant-sounding and prone to misspelling, but how does it make sense to give a baby a name that means "married"?

Beulah Annan was a nineteen-twenties murderess. She murdered her lover after he tried to break it off. She is the woman Roxie Hart is based on in "Chicago".

Beulah is also the land of peace described in John Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress".

My roommate first mentioned the name Beulah to me, and I've been finding it more and more in my law hypos as I study for the California Bar, so it prompted me to find this site.
I was hoping it wasn't actually from the Hebrew b'ula, but apparently it is. It really doesn't mean a married woman. I mean we hope she's married, but it just means a woman who's been around the block (not necessarily slutty, but it means a woman who's had sex), as opposed to a b'tula - virgin. It's used a lot in Jewish legal texts (g'mara / talmud) to mean an unmarried woman who is unchaste, for purposes of measuring dowry, or fitness for marrying the kohen gadol (High Priest), which is where I know it from better than y'shaya (Isiah).
It is related to the word for husband - baal (or owner), but so is one of the Hebrew words for sex (b'ila, livol - to have sex).
How this got to be a name in English is beyond me.

A famous bearer of this name was actress Beulah Bondi (May 3, 1888 – January 11, 1981). She was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her work in "The Gorgeous Hussy" (1936) and "Of Human Hearts" (1938).

Beulah is my friend's name, and she is 17 years old. She loves her name, and I think this name is pretty, too. The name Beulah is just to mature for a baby. But, for a 17 year old is okay.

"Beulah, peel me a grape!" is a line spoken by Mae West in the 1933 movie I'm No Angel (which West wrote along with starring in it). Beulah (played by Gertrude Howard) is West's character's personal maid.

This quotation so well-known that it is included in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations.

Beulah was among the top 1,000 girls' names in the United States from the 1880s to the 1950s with its peak of popularity being in 1900 (77th position). The 1950s television show Beulah, starring Ethel Waters in the title role of the Negro cook working for a white family in the southern United States, may have contributed to its falling out of the top 1,000 after that decade, the only decade when the television show itself was aired.

The name Beulah makes me think of a fat old lady. I don't recommend the name.

Am I the only person that actually likes this name?! I think it's pretty, but only when pronounced a certain way. Most people pronounce it Byool (like the word mule) uh, which I must admit, does sound quite ugly. But when pronounced Byoo (like the word you) lah, I actually think it sounds nice. I know it's a very subtle difference, but it's the little things in life, I swear. Hahaha.

When I hear this name, I think of the "Leave it to Beulah" TV advertisement (she's a modern-day slave) in the mockumentary "C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America."

Beulah does mean "married," but it caught on among Christians during the Reformation because of the metaphorical meaning -- marriage is a metaphor for reconciliation into a loving relationship with God. Isaiah 62:4-5 states, "No longer will they call you Deserted or name your land Desolate, but you will be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah for the Lord will take delight in you and your land will be married. As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you." The land of Israel had turned away from God in disobedience, but God forgave Israel and accepted the people back into a loving relationship with him (a "marriage"). The name Beulah embodies the idea that God loves, forgives, and accepts.

This is Jackie's embarrassing middle name on That 70's Show. I think this is a pretty ugly name... makes me think of a cow or something.

This has to be, hands down, the ugliest name I've ever heard.

Very old and sinister sounding.