Hard Family History
Hard Name Meaning
English: variant of Heard . Compare Hardman . English German Dutch and Swedish (Hård): nickname for a stern or severe man from Middle English Middle Low German hard Middle Dutch hart hert Swedish hård ‘hard inflexible’. The Swedish name was probably originally a soldier's name. English: topographic name denoting a dweller on hard firm ground from a transferred use of the adjective in 2 above or perhaps sometimes from a landing-place as in the modern Hampshire use of the term hard. Compare Hardacre . English: perhaps from a Middle English survival of an unrecorded Old English personal name Heard or else a borrowing of the ancient Germanic cognate Hardo. Both are from the adjective meaning ‘hard’ which was the basis of a number of Old English and ancient Germanic personal names like Harding and H(e)ardwin.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022
