A neckbeard is also known as a neard, a word created by joining the words “neck” and “beard”. It is similar to the chinstrap style of beard, but in the neckbeard, the mustache, chin and jaw line are shaven, and only hair on the neck are let grow.
Neckbeard were and are never seen as a popular or even a good style of beard. It is considered as an ugly looking feature of a man’s face. However, there are many historical figures who courageously maintained a neckbeard.
Nero – Nero, a personality with a neckbeard, was the last Roman Emperor in the Julio-Claudian Dynasty who ruled between 54 AD and 68 AD. He was an emperor having interest in cultural life and promoted theater and athletic games. He also paid much attention to trade and diplomacy.
Horace Greeley – Horace Greeley was an 1811-born American neckbearded figure, who founded the Liberal Republican Party and was a newspaper editor, a politician, a reformer and a dedicated opponent of slavery. He founded and edited the most influential newspaper in the US – the New York Tribune.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner – Another famous personality with a neckbeard was Wilhelm Richard Wagner born in 1813 who was a German composer, polemicist, theater director and conductor who was mainly famous for his operas and music dramas.
Henry David Thoreau – The legendary Henry David Thoreau was an 1817-born American neckbeard multi-faceted personality who was a world-famous poet, philosopher, author, naturalist, abolitionist, development critic, tax resister, historian, surveyor and a chief transcendentalist.
William Empson – William Empson was a famous English personality having a neckbeard, who was born in 1906 and was a poet and a literary critic, more renowned for his practice of closely reading literatures, which is considered as fundamental to New Criticism.
If you want to grow a neckbeard, but are afraid because of the criticism it gets, remember these legendary historical figures and go ahead – grow a neckbeard!