Show ContentsBushart History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Bushart is derived from a nickname in the Old French. A broad and miscellaneous class of surnames, nickname surnames referred to a characteristic of the first person who used the name. They can describe the bearer's favored style of clothing, appearance, habits, or character.

In the pre-Christian era, many pagan gods and demi-gods were believed to be a mixture of animals and humans, such as the Greek god Pan who was the god of flocks and herds and was represented as a man with the legs, horns and ears of a goat. In the Middle Ages, anthropomorphic ideas, which attributed human qualities and form to gods or animals, were held about the characters of other living creatures. They were based on the creature's habits. Moreover, these associations were reflected in folk tales, mythology, and legends that portrayed animals behaving as humans. The Old French nickname Bushart, meant someone who was "as strong as a bear" having derived from Old French nickname berart.

Early Origins of the Bushart family

The surname Bushart was first found in Brittany, where they held a family seat from very ancient times. They held a family seat in that province at Demaine where they were nobility from about the times of the Norman invasion of England in 1066 A.D.

Early History of the Bushart family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bushart research. Another 65 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1789 and 1828 are included under the topic Early Bushart History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bushart Spelling Variations

The Old and Middle English languages lacked definite spelling rules, and therefore, Breton surnames have many spelling variations. Latin and French, which were the official court languages, were also influential on the spelling of surnames. The spelling of surnames was rarely consistent in medieval times, and scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded rather than adhering to any specific spelling rules. Therefore, it was common to find the same individual referred to with different spellings of their surname in the ancient chronicles. Moreover, a large number of foreign names were brought into England after the Norman Conquest, which accelerated and accentuated the alterations to the spelling of various surnames. The name has been spelled Berard, Barrard, Berad and others.

Early Notables of the Bushart family

More information is included under the topic Early Bushart Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Bushart migration to the United States +

Research into various historical records has revealed some of first members of the Bushart family to immigrate North America:

Bushart Settlers in United States in the 18th Century
  • Adam Bushart, aged 28, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1740 1
  • Jacob Bushart, who landed in Pennsylvania in 1753 1


  1. Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)


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