Ard (surname)

Ard is a surname of Scottish origin. It is an anglicized variant of the original Scottish surname Aird.[3]

Alhang, an example of the elevated physical features of East Ayrshire
This article is about the surname Ard. For other uses, see Ard.
Ard
Map of Scotland showing the location of Aird in East Ayrshire
Map of Scotland showing the location of Aird in East Ayrshire
Aird
Location of Aird in East Ayrshire
Pronunciationahr-d, air-d
Origin
Word/nameScottish Gaelic
Aird → Ard
Meaning"Height," or "High"
Region of origin Scotland
Other names
Variant form(s)Aird, Ayrd, De Ard, De la Ard, De Lard [1][2]

Origins and variants

Ard is a habitational name from any of several places called Aird in Scotland, including a small hamlet near Hurlford in Ayrshire, a small village in the parish of Inch in the council area of Dumfries and Galloway, and the Aird, a district in the Vale of Beauly near Inverness.[4] These place names are derived from the Gaelic àird(e), which means "height", or "promontory", or from "àrd" which means "high",[5] suggesting that the first to use the surname hailed from a location of high elevation.

The surname Ard was first found in the historic county of Ayrshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Inbhir Àir) in southwest Scotland, and the ancient Strathclyde-Briton people of the region, which today consists of the Council Areas of South, East, and North Ayrshire in the present-day region of Strathclyde, were the first to use the name.[6] The family likely came from the village near Hurlford in East Ayrshire, which would suggest that that location is likely the name's actual area of origin.[7]

Until the gradual standardization of English spelling in the last few centuries, English lacked any comprehensive system of spelling. Medieval Scottish names, particularly as they were Anglicized from the original Gaelic, historically displayed wide variations in recorded spellings as scribes of the era spelled words according to how they sounded rather than any set of rules. This means that a person's name was often spelled several different ways over a lifetime. As such, different variations of the Ard surname usually have the same origin.[8]

People with the surname

See also

References
  1. "Ard History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". houseofnames.com. Retrieved 23 June 2018
  2. "Ard Surname Meaning & Statistics". forebears.io. Retrieved 23 June 2018
  3. "Ard Family History". ancestry.com. Retrieved 23 June 2018
  4. "Ard History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". houseofnames.com. Retrieved 23 June 2018
  5. "Ard Family History". ancestry.com. Retrieved 23 June 2018
  6. "Ard History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". houseofnames.com. Retrieved 23 June 2018
  7. "Ard History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". houseofnames.com. Retrieved 23 June 2018
  8. "Ard History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". houseofnames.com. Retrieved 27 June 2018
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