beck

Beck is a term that can refer to several different things. In English dialect, beck is a common noun for a stream or brook, especially in the north of England, and it appears in place names and regional speech. As a surname and given name, Beck is used by various individuals around the world.

Notable people and fictional characters bearing Beck include Beck Hansen, better known as Beck, an American musician born in 1970; Aaron T. Beck, an American psychiatrist (1921–2021) who developed the Beck Depression Inventory and contributed to the development of cognitive therapy; and Beck Bennett, an American comedian and actor born in 1984 who is a member of the Saturday Night Live ensemble. The name is also associated with the Swedish fictional detective Martin Beck, the central character in a series of novels by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö that has been adapted into films and television.

In psychology, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Beck Anxiety Inventory are widely used assessment instruments developed by Aaron T. Beck. These tools are employed in clinical and research settings to measure the severity of depressive and anxious symptoms, respectively, and have influenced approaches to cognitive-behavioral therapy.

The term Beck thus covers linguistic usage, personal names, fictional characters, and cultural products, reflecting both a regional English heritage and broader international associations in music, literature, and psychology.