Bard
A name that can point to a poet or bard, though in some lines it may also reflect other surname forms that converged on the same spelling.
The #5,809 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 51,864 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Bard is most naturally connected with the common noun bard, meaning a poet, singer, or praise-poet. That sense is especially clear in Celtic contexts, where the word was used for a court poet or professional versifier, and later passed into English. Some 19th-century writers also grouped Bard with spellings related to Scottish Bard/Baird lines, so the surname may sometimes be a shortened or altered form rather than a single, uniform origin.
History
The form is relatively uncommon in the United States and may reflect more than one family line. Historical surname writers linked related spellings such as Baird, Byrd, and Bard to Scottish and northern British usage, while others saw it as a straightforward nickname for a bard or poet. Because of this overlap, modern bearers of Bard may descend from different origins that arrived at the same spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older Gaelic and English usage, a bard was not just a poet in the modern sense but a recognized professional voice of praise and memory.
From the historical record
“BARD WELL. A parish in Suffolk. BARKHAIM. A pnrisli in Berkshire, and a manor in E. Sussex. BARKSTON. Parishes, &c., in cos. Leicester and Lincoln. BARLEYMOW. Probably from an inn sign in some rural locality. BARNACLE.* Barnakarl or Barnakal”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom