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The origins of the Churchyard name lie with England's ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. It comes from when the family lived in or near the precincts of a church. Churchyard belongs to the large class of Anglo-Saxon topographic surnames, which were given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree.
The surname Churchyard was first found in Staffordshire, where one of the first records of the name was John atte Chircheyerde who was listed there in 1298.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Churchyard research. Another 74 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1332, 1379, 1520, 1604, 1606 and 1631 are included under the topic Early Churchyard History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Before the last few hundred years, the English language had no fast system of spelling rules. For that reason, spelling variations are commonly found in early Anglo-Saxon surnames. Over the years, many variations of the name Churchyard were recorded, including Churchyard, Churchard, Chircheyerde, Kirkeyerde, Cykarth, Cyrkarth, Kirkeyerd and many more.
Distinguished members of the family include
To escape oppression and starvation at that time, many English families left for the "open frontiers" of the New World with all its perceived opportunities. In droves people migrated to the many British colonies, those in North America in particular, paying high rates for passages in cramped, unsafe ships. Although many of the settlers did not make the long passage alive, those who did see the shores of North America perceived great opportunities before them. Many of the families that came from England went on to make essential contributions to the emerging nations of Canada and the United States. Research into various historical records revealed some of first members of the Churchyard family emigrate to North America: