Scottish: occupational name from Gaelic bàrd ‘poet’,
‘minstrel’, ‘singer’. See also Baird.
Scottish:
perhaps also a habitational name (early forms such as Henry de Barde
and Richard de Baard are recorded, and ‘de’ usually signifies ‘from’),
but no suitable place has been identified.
French: habitational
name from any of the several minor places called Bar(d), from the
Gaulish element barro ‘height’, ‘hill’. Compare Barre.
French: metonymic occupational name for someone who used a
handcart or barrow in his work, from Old French bard
‘barrow’.
French: from Old French bart ‘mud’, ‘clay’ (Late
Latin barrum, apparently of Celtic origin), in which case it is
either a topographic name for someone living in a muddy area or an
occupational name for a builder or bricklayer.
Hungarian
(Bárd): metonymic occupational name for a butcher,
woodcutter or carpenter, from bárd ‘hatchet’,
‘cleaver’. Derivation from bárd ‘poet’ is unlikely because
the word was borrowed from Gaelic only in the late 18th
century.
Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for someone with a
luxurious beard, from a blend of German Bart and Yiddish
bord, both meaning ‘beard’.
Start your FREE family tree. Who will you discover?
A family tree is the easiest way to start discovering your family history. To begin, just enter whatever you know and we'll use that to try and find more information for you.
Begin your family tree with your name:
The bard name in History
A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the bard family name as far back in history as possible.
Member Connections
Anonymously contact one of the Ancestry members researching the bard last name.