A linear geometrical stiffening model is developed for a rotating beam with an asymmetric cross section undergoing coupled stretch–bending–torsion motion. The model is verified for a twisted and tapered Timoshenko beam mounted on a rotating hub with a presetting angle. The floating frame of reference formulation is adopted where the configuration of the deformable beam is described by using different coordinate systems. Three coordinate systems, viz., inertial reference frame attached to the center of the rigid hub, local reference frame attached to an arbitrary point on the elastic axis of the undeformed beam, and body reference frame attached to the point on the elastic axis of the deformed beam, are defined. The global position vector of an arbitrary point on the beam is specified using a coupled set of reference and elastic coordinates. Reference coordinates define the location and orientation of a body reference frame, and elastic coordinates describe the beam deformation about the body reference frame. For a rotating beam problem, reference and elastic coordinates give the angular displacements of the hub and elastic deformations of the beam, respectively. The expressions for the kinetic and strain energy of the deformable beam are derived. The inertial coupling between the reference and elastic coordinates in the kinetic energy expression is identified as a gyroscopic coupling term. Further, the inertial mass matrix, spin softening matrix, and centrifugal stiffening matrix are obtained from kinetic energy expression. The elastic stiffness matrices, which are independent of elastic coordinates, are derived from strain energy expression. According to the Rayleigh–Ritz method, the elastic coordinates are expressed using a series of admissible functions that satisfy the geometric boundary conditions of a fixed-free beam. The ordinary differential equations of motion are then derived using Lagrange’s equations. A set of dimensionless parameters is identified after the nondimensionalization of the equations of motion. Due to the skewsymmetric nature of the gyroscopic coupling matrix, the eigenvalue problem is not amenable to classical modal analysis. Therefore, a complex modal analysis method is used to determine the modal characteristics. The results from the present model are verified with those available in the literature. The results are also compared with those obtained from the three-dimensional finite element method using ANSYS. The effect of these dimensionless parameters on the modal characteristics of a rotating blade is studied. © 2022 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. All rights reserved.