Last name origins & meanings:
- English: from the Old English personal name Heard or a
Norman cognate Hard(on), also of Germanic origin. This was a
byname meaning ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’, but it also seems to have
been used as a short form of the various compound names containing
this as a first element. Occasionally this may also be a variant of
- 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 for someone who lived on a patch of particularly hard
ground or one that was difficult to farm. Compare Hardacre.
- Dutch: occupational name from Middle Dutch harde,
Comments for Reinhard