Engelhardt
A German surname meaning “angel-brave” or “angel-strong,” built from a common German given-name element plus a word for hard or brave.
The #6,842 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 62,702 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Engelhardt is a German surname formed from the old personal-name elements Engel and hard. In older Germanic naming, Engel was associated with the name element seen in names like Engelbert, and hard meant “hard,” “strong,” or “brave.” The literal sense is therefore something like “angel-strong” or “strong in battle,” rather than a reference to a heavenly angel in the modern religious sense.
History
The name is well established in German-speaking areas and appears in older sources in forms such as Engelhart and Engelhardt. English writers of the 19th and early 20th centuries noted that it was sometimes anglicized as Engleheart. Related forms spread into other European naming traditions, reflecting the wide use of the Engel- name element in medieval German personal names.
Origin
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Fun fact
Some old surname writers explicitly linked Engelhardt with the German name element Engel-, not with the Christian word “angel,” which makes the name sound more literal than it really is.
From the historical record
“beraht, ' bright,' ' glorious,' &c. ENGELHARDT (Ger.) see Engel", and -|- O.Teut. haft, hard, 'hard,' 'brave.'- EPSTEIN (Ger.) Eppo's Stone (Castle) [O.H.Ger. stein] ERDMANN (Ger.) Land-Worker [f. Ger. erde, O.H.Ger. erda, earth, ground, soil -f- mann, man]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)