51,566 Global WOODARD Family Members

WOODARD Family History

This is one of the most unusual of English surnames. Recorded in the almost unbelievably different spellings of Huddart and Woodard, it is a good example of how surnames from the same source can take completely different developments over a millenium. The origination of both names, and probably five hundred years before the formation of the surname, was the pre 7th century Olde English given name of 'Wudheard'. This name appears in surviving early rolls as for example: Wudardus of Bury St Edmunds in 1148, and Wudardi of Wiltshire in 1168.