Beck (surname)

Beck is a surname of Germanic and Hebrew descent, meaning "brook", "stream" (related to Old Norse bekkr) or "martyr" (Hebrew) and is fairly common in English and Slavic speaking countries, northern Germany (equivalent to Bach) and Denmark. The German name can also be a variant of Becker, which is an occupational surname meaning "baker". In Hebrew, it exists as an abbreviated form of B'nei Kiddoshim ("sons of the martyrs"). In some Slavic countries such as Yugoslavia it is spelled as Bek. Notable people with this surname include:

• Aaron T. Beck (born 1921), founder of modern cognitive therapy
• Adam Beck (1857–1925), Canadian politician and hydro-electricity advocate
• András Beck (1911–1985), Hungarian sculptor
• Andreas Beck (born 1987), German football player
• Andreas Beck (born 1986), German tennis player
• Andrew Beck (American football) (born 1996), American football player
• Audrey P. Beck (1931–1983), American educator and politician
• Bill Beck (1900–1965), American college sports coach
• C. C. Beck (1910–1989), American cartoonist
• Charlie Beck (born 1953), appointed Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department
• Christophe Beck (born 1968/1969), Canadian composer for film and TV, most notable for his work on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Claude Beck (1894–1971), American cardiac surgeon who invented the defibrillator
• Clifford W. Beck (1908–1985), American politician
• Corey Beck (born 1971), American basketball player
• Dave Beck (1894–1993), American labor leader
• David Beck (1621–1656), Dutch portrait painter
• David Beck, Australian drummer
• David L. Beck (born 1953), Mormon leader
• Diana Beck (1900–1956), English neurosurgeon
• Doris Beck (1929–2020), American politician
• "Dr. Beck", name taken by the Count de Werdinsky (1803–1856)
• Franz Ignaz Beck, (1734–1809), German classical composer
• Gad Beck (1923–2012), German educator, author, activist, and survivor of the Holocaust
• Geoffrey Beck (born 1918), English cricketer, minister, and centenarian
• George Beck (1749–1812), artist and poet
• Gina Beck (born 1981), English actress and singer
• Glenn Beck (born 1964), American political commentator, radio host, and television producer
• Günther Beck von Mannagetta und Lerchenau (1856–1931), German botanist
• Hans Beck (1929–2009), German inventor
• Harry Beck (1902–1974), designer of the London Underground map
• Harry Beck (1901–1979), English footballer
• Henrik Henriksen Beck (1799-1863, Danish geologist, conchologist and naturalist
• Ivan Bek (1909–1963), Yugoslav footballer
• Jackson Beck (1912-2004), American actor and announcer
• Jakob Sigismund Beck, German philosopher
• James Beck (1929–1973), English actor in the television series Dad's Army
• James Beck (1930–2007), American art historian specializing in the Italian Renaissance
• James B. Beck (1822–1890), American congressman from Kentucky
• James M. Beck (1861–1936), United States Solicitor General and US Congressman from Pennsylvania
• Jeff Beck (born 1944), British electric guitarist
• Joe Beck (1945–2008), American jazz guitarist
• John Beck (born 1943), American actor
• John Beck (born 1954), British football manager
• John Beck (born 1981), NFL player and former BYU quarterback
• John Brodhead Beck (1794–1851), 19th-century United States physician
• Jonathan Mock Beck (1935–2006), American mathematician
• Joko Beck (1917–2011), an American Zen teacher
• Józef Beck (1894–1944), Polish diplomat and military officer, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland (1932-1939)
• József Beck (born 1952), a mathematician
• Justin Beck, American guitarist
• Karol Beck (born 1982), Slovak tennis player
• Ken Beck (born 1940), Australian Rules footballer
• Kent Beck (born 1961), major proponent of Extreme Programming
• Kimberly Beck (born 1956), American actress
• Kristin Beck (born 1966), a retired American Navy SEAL
• Kurt Beck (born 1949), German politician (SPD)
• Laetitia Beck (born 1992), Israeli golfer
• Lewis Caleb Beck (1798–1853), an American naturalist and physician
• Ludwig Beck (1880–1944), German general and participant in the failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler
• Margit Beck (1918–1997), Hungarian-born American painter
• Michael Beck (born 1949), American actor
• Mikkel Beck (born 1973), Danish professional football player
• Nissan Beck or Nisan Bak (1815–1889), Hasidic leader, moderniser and printer in Jerusalem
• Paul W. Beck (1876–1922), American military aviation pioneer
• Peter Beck (politician) (born 1952), politician from Ohio
• Peter Beck (priest) (born c. 1948/1949), dean of ChristChurch Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand
• Richard Beck (scholar) (1897-1980), American literary historian
• Rick Beck (born 1956), member of the Arkansas House of Representatives
• Robert Beck, alias of African American writer Iceberg Slim
• Robert Beck, alias of former D-12 rapper Karnail Pitts
• Robert Nason Beck (1928–2008), pioneer radiologist
• Robin Beck (born 1954), American singer
• Rod Beck (1968–2007), former relief pitcher in Major League Baseball
• Rollo Beck (1870–1950), American bird collector
• Stanley D. Beck (1919–1997), American entomologist
• Theodore Beck, first principal of the MAO College at Aligarh, India
• Theodric Romeyn Beck (1859–1899), forensic scientist
• Ulrich Beck (1944–2015), German sociologist
• W. Raymond Beck (born 1932), former member of Maryland House of Delegates
• William E. Beck (1842—1892), Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court

Fictional characters

• Martin Beck, Swedish police detective in the Sjöwall and Wahlöö novels
• Beck Oliver, one of the main characters from Victorious
• Florian Beck, one of the main characters from Salt to the Sea
• Quentin Beck, one of Spiderman’s enemies.

See also

• Bak
• Verbeek