An English surname, the Beach name comes from the Old English term ’bece’ and the Middle English term ‘beche’ referring to people who lived near a beech tree or an area with many beech trees. The spelling variations for Beach including Beache, Beech, Beche, Beck and Bech. The German spelling of Beach is Bisch. In England the early families lived in Hertfordshire. From there they spread into the city of London, Kent, Middlesex, Hampshire and to the north in Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire counties. In Scotland the Beach surname is located primarily in Lanarkshire, Midlothian, Angus and Fife counties. Within the United States the original Beach families first settled in Massachusetts, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, Illinois, Indiana and Iowa. Famous: Rex Beach (acclaimed novelist and playwright), Moses Yale Beach (publisher-owner of the New York Sun newspaper and inventor of a rag-cutter machine for paper mills), Alfred Ely Beach (inventor of a typewriter for the blind, the first working subway in New York City in 1870 and established the college - Beach Institution), Amy Marcey Cleney Beach (music composer and pianist), Ralph H. Beach (co-inventor of the Edison-Beach electric battery rail car) and Edward L. Beach, Jr. (Navy submarine officer and author).