Ballard
A surname that most likely began as a nickname for a bald-headed person, though some older writers linked it to Celtic roots.
The #544 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 5,010 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest explanation is that Ballard comes from an old nickname meaning “bald” or “bald-headed,” with the first element related to Old English beald or bald. Medieval spellings and parallels in other surnames suggest it was originally a descriptive byname for someone with little hair. A minority of older sources tried to connect it with Celtic elements such as bal and ard, but that view is much less convincing than the nickname origin.
History
The name is well attested in medieval England, and early records show several forms that point to a nickname-based surname. It appears to have spread widely enough to become a familiar English surname and later crossed to North America. Modern bearers are found in both Britain and the United States, where it remains common enough to rank in the US top 600.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname writers explicitly glossed Ballard as meaning “bald-headed,” and even joked that some families dropped a final letter to conceal the joke.
From the historical record
“Dykes, Esq. BALLARD. An ancient baptismal name. Balard, H. R. BALLINGER. A corruption of Fr. honlangcr, a baker. Also a small sailing vessel. See Halliw. BALLOCK. Gael. Spotted in the face. BAL^ilER. Qu. O. Fr. hauhnier. A dea- ler in fragrant herbs.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom