# What is the name of this beard style? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 31, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645 "2006-03-31T02:18:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/1 "2006-03-31T02:18:28Z")
What’s the name of that beard style w/ mustache, full beard under the chin, short sideburns and clean-shaven cheeks? Basically the style of beard [this guy](http://www.rotten.com/library/bio/religion/anton-lavey/) is famous for. (Google’s been no help.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/2 "2006-03-31T02:21:13Z")
Goatee. Yours truly sears one. ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/3 "2006-03-31T02:22:41Z")
Wears. WEARS. Sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/4 "2006-03-31T02:39:27Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > Goatee. Yours truly sears one. With a moustache, it’s a [Van Dyck](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beard#Beard_styles)! CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/5 "2006-03-31T02:41:19Z")
No, not a goatee. (It’s not, is it?) [Here’s a better picture](http://www.airlounge.net/cmg/albums/beards/res2054035654.jpg) of the kind of beard I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/6 "2006-03-31T02:46:22Z")
I’ve always called that a goatee, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard it called anything else. I think the actual _definition_ of goatee is just the chin part, but who really pays attention to definitions anymore? ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/7 "2006-03-31T02:52:59Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I’ve always called that a goatee, and I don’t think I’ve ever heard it called anything else. This is what I’ve always heard as well. Various goatee-oriented websites such as [this one](http://www.goateegallery.com/index_fr.html) have photos of this style, as well as a number of others, all of which are lumped under the general category of goatees. The term appears to apply to any beard style with hair on the chin and clean-shaven cheeks, with or without a mustache. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/8 "2006-03-31T03:09:24Z")
That’s a Van Dyke (not a goatee), and I sport one too. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/9 "2006-03-31T03:10:57Z")
It is a Van Dyck, but it’s commonly known as a goatee or, in our house, a “goat”. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/10 "2006-03-31T03:58:05Z")
[This site is probably rather unofficial.](http://www.beardshampoo.com/BeardTypes1.html) But I’m not sure any definitive source exists for goatee classification. I’ve looked for such a source periodically over the years because I’ve never been sure what to call my own facial hair, which is the same as the kind in **KGS** ’s second post. The terms have shifted over the years, and pretty much any kind of chin-only beard is called a ‘goatee’ these days as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![Atticus\_Finch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Atticus\_Finch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atticus_Finch)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/11 "2006-03-31T04:14:29Z")
Worked with some Dutch girls in Texas for a while, where nearly every guy seems to have one of those. Their phrase for it was something like “spriegende kutsch”, the polite translation of which is “talking vagina”. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/12 "2006-03-31T04:20:18Z")
It’s a goatee. I have one, and I should know. (I’ve \*\*never \*\*heard it called a doorknocker). A Van Dyke is like a goatee, except the moustache is pointed (or curled) at the ends, and the beard is pointier. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/13 "2006-03-31T04:41:16Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > It’s a goatee. I have one, and I should know. (I’ve \*\*never \*\*heard it called a doorknocker). A Van Dyke is like a goatee, except the moustache is pointed (or curled) at the ends, and the beard is pointier. That site aside, I’ve never heard the term either. And that’s my understanding of a Van Dyck as well, but like beard care, beard naming seems to be more art than science. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/14 "2006-03-31T07:06:26Z")
> [@Atticus Finch](#): > > “talking vagina” > [@Marley23](#): > > beard naming If your beard had a name, what would it be? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/15 "2006-03-31T07:33:13Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > If your beard had a name, what would it be? Katie Holmes? ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/16 "2006-03-31T08:00:16Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Katie Holmes? _snerk_ That was great. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/17 "2006-04-01T00:30:09Z")
Given it’s rampant popularity, which reminds me so much of the 80s, I’ve always referred to it as a chin mullet. Satch ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/18 "2006-04-01T01:01:01Z")
So it’s a goatee, huh? Or at least that’s the consensus? However, the common definition of “goatee”, as I understand it, is merely a tuft of hair on the chin, regardless of any mustache. I think what the world needs more than ever, just the decade of 2000-2009 needs a name, is a word that specifically describes that type of beard style. Let’s put it this way…I’m writing up a character for a novel who has that kind of beard, but at this point, I’m thinking of making him clean shaven instead!! (Although I might steal “chin mullet”…or even “talking vagina”…) ---
**Author:** ![Q.E.D](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/51bf81/32.png) [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/19 "2006-04-01T01:03:51Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > …or even “talking vagina”… If people start calling it _that_, I’m gonna shave it right off. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2006, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645/20 "2006-04-01T02:57:15Z")
> [@Q.E.D.](#): > > If people start calling it _that_, I’m gonna shave it right off. I’d grow one just to celebrate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-name-of-this-beard-style/350645.md?page=2)