The ancestry of the name Hearding goes back to the
Vikings, who settled on the rocky shores of ancient
Scotland. Hearding was a name for a hard working or arduous person, deriving its origin from name the Old French word
hearding, which meant hard. 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.
Early Origins of the Hearding family
The surname Hearding was first found in Bristol, where the first record of the family was Harding of Bristol (c.1048-1125), Sheriff Reeve of Bristol. He was the son of Eadnoth the Constable (died 1068), an
Anglo-Saxon thane who served as steward to Edward the Confessor and Harold II. One of the Harding of Bristol's sons was Robert Fitzharding
(c. 1095-1170), 1st
feudal Baron of Berkeley,
Gloucestershire, an
Anglo-Saxon nobleman who was granted the feudal barony of Berkeley in
Gloucestershire and was ancestor of the Berkeley family of Berkeley Castle.
Early History of the Hearding family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hearding research.
Another 195 words (14 lines of text) covering the years 1086, 1048, 1125, 1134, 1378, 1465, 1415, 1516, 1572, 1593, 1658, 1601, 1658 and 1797 are included under the topic Early Hearding History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Hearding Spelling Variations
Contemporary spellings of ancient Scottish names often bear little resemblance to the original recorded versions. These
spelling variations result from the fact that medieval scribes spelled words and names alike according to their sounds. Hearding has been spelled Harding, Hardinge and others.
Early Notables of the Hearding family (pre 1700)
Another 49 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Hearding Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Hearding family to Ireland
Some of the Hearding family moved to
Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 40 words (3 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Migration of the Hearding family to the New World and Oceana
The colonies on the fertile east coast of North America soon had many farms run by Scots. These hardy settlers provided a backbone for the great nations of the United States and Canada that would emerge in the next centuries. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the Scottish name Hearding or a variant listed above, including: Robert Harding who sailed to Boston Massachusetts in 1630; he was a Freeman and Captain of Artillery. In Newfoundland, William Harding, born in Bedford,
England. An alleged deserter from the Battle of Waterloo, he settled in Collins Cove in the 19th century.
Hearding Family Crest Products
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