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Origins Available: |
| England |
Boards is a name whose history dates far back into the mists of early British times to the days of the Anglo-Saxon tribes. It is a name for a dweller at a cottage or small farm. 1 Alternatively, the name could have been derived from the French word "borde," 'a little house, lodging, or cottage of timber, standing alone in the fields. In Domesday [Book] the occupants of cottages are called bordarii, and amount to 82,119 in number." 2
The surname Boards was first found in Sussex, where one of the first records of the family was Andrew Borde or Boorde (1490?-1549), English "traveller and physician, ‘Andreas Parforutus’ as he jocosely calls himself, was born at ‘Boords Hill in Holms dayle,’ near Cuckfield, Sussex, some time before or about 1490, as by 1521 he was appointed suffragan bishop of Chichester, and must have therefore then been thirty years old." 3
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Boards research. Another 52 words (4 lines of text) covering the years 1490 and 1549 are included under the topic Early Boards History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
The English language only became standardized in the last few centuries; therefore,spelling variations are common among early Anglo-Saxon names. As the form of the English language changed, even the spelling of literate people's names evolved. Boards has been recorded under many different variations, including Board, Borde, Bord, Boards and others.
More information is included under the topic Early Boards Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
For many English families, the political and religious disarray that shrouded England made the far away New World an attractive prospect. On cramped disease-ridden ships, thousands migrated to those British colonies that would eventually become Canada and the United States. Those hardy settlers that survived the journey often went on to make important contributions to the emerging nations in which they landed. Analysis of immigration records indicates that some of the first North American immigrants bore the name Boards or a variant listed above: