Bullard
An old English occupational surname meaning the man who tended the bull or handled bull-baiting.
The #1,509 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,997 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bullard is generally explained as an occupational name built from Middle English bull and a second element related to ward, meaning a keeper or guardian. In older surname books it is glossed either as “bull-herd” or as the man in charge of the town bull, and sometimes as someone who presided over bull-baiting. The form may also have been influenced by similar animal-herd surnames such as Coward and Bullman.
History
The name is recorded in medieval England and later appears in several spelling forms, including Bollard. It survived as a relatively uncommon English surname and was carried to North America by later emigrants. By the 19th century writers already treated it as an established but not especially common family name.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname writers disagreed a little on whether the name referred mainly to a bull-herd or to someone connected with bull-baiting, showing how many medieval occupational surnames could blur over time.
From the historical record
“I find only four people so called. BULLARD. Bull-ward— either the man who presided over the sport of bull-baiting, or the one who had the care of the "town- bull." BULLCOCK. See Belcorabe. BULLEN. See Boleyne. BUN”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom