First found in Lanarkshire, where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

Descendents of Dalriadan-Scottish families still populate many communities across North America. They are particularly common in Canada, since many went north as United Empire Loyalists at the time of the American War of Independence. Much later, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the highland games and clan societies that now dot North America sprang up, allowing many Scots to recover their lost national heritage. Some of the first immigrants to cross the Atlantic and come to North America bore the name Hardy, or a variant listed above: Elizabeth Hardey settled in Rappahannock Virginia in 1725; Robert Hardey settled in Maryland in 1774; John Hardy settled in Salem in 1630; Thomas Hardy settled in Virginia in 1642.

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