Burkhart
A German surname from the old given name Burkhard, meaning roughly “castle-fort strong.”
The #2,204 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,682 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Burkhart comes from the old German personal name Burkhard, built from elements meaning “fortress, castle” and “hardy, strong, brave.” In older scholarship it is often explained as the same name seen in many spellings, including Burckhardt and Burkhard. The surname began as a hereditary form of that given name.
History
The name is especially associated with German-speaking areas and Swiss usage, where many surnames developed from medieval baptismal names. Historical surname studies also note shortened forms such as Burk and related spellings like Burkhalder in Swiss records. In English-language countries, Burkhart is commonly a German immigrant surname.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older onomastic works sometimes treat Burkhart as part of a wider family of names shortened from the medieval given name Burkhard, alongside forms like Burk and Burki.
From the historical record
“Uns klingen jetzt die Namen mancher Landleute in Schillers Teil auf- fällig und fremdartig: (Hans) auf der Mauer, (Jörg) im Hofe, (Burkhart) am Bühel u. a. Solcher Benennungen aber, wie sie hier Schiller im Anschluß an die Schweizer- Chronik von Tschudi gewählt hat, gab es ursprünglich sehr viele, von den…”
— Die deutschen Familiennamen