One of eight children, Beyers Naudé was born to Jozua François Naudé and Adriana Johanna Naudé (née) van Huyssteen in Roodepoort, Transvaal (now Gauteng). The progenitor of the Naudé name was a French Huguenot refugee named Jacques Naudé who arrived in the Cape in 1718. The Naudé surname is one of numerous French surnames that retained their original spelling in South Africa. Beyers Naudé was named for General Christiaan Frederick Beyers, under whom his father had served as a soldier and unofficial pastor during the second Anglo-Boer War.