Ricardt
A few years ago my family traced its origins back to a village in Poland (it was officially Prussia at the time of their migration), the surname of my great-great grandparents was Ricardt or something similar to that. I am not sure of the spelling as I dont have the documents in my possession and would like to know if anyone knows of this name or what the correct spelling is.
thanks.edited to add: they migrated to Australia and that was the name recorded on the papers.

This message was edited 10/23/2007, 10:09 PM

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I think we can safely say that this is a name equivalent to the English Richard, and so a surname derived from the given name of a male ancestor. The spelling is problematic; Richard is (I think) Reichart in German, Ryszard in Polish. As far as I can ascertain the spelling Ricardt does not exist in modern-day Germany or Poland. There are, however, a few Germans surnamed Ricard, which, I suspect, is a Huguenot name. Berlin had a substantial Huguenot population in the 18th century, some of whom might have settled elsewhere in Prussia.
Nothing certain, but a possible area of research?
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Thankyou for your response. Reichart looks the most familiar to me. My great-great grandmothers first name was Arabella which I belive to be used in Germany often back then. We are certain that they migrated from Poland though.
thanks again.
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I think we can safely say that this is a name equivalent to the English Richard, and so a surname derived from the given name of a male ancestor. The spelling is problematic; Richard is (I think) Reichart in German, Ryszard in Polish. As far as I can ascertain the spelling Ricardt does not exist in modern-day Germany or Poland. There are, however, a few Germans surnamed Ricard, which, I suspect, is a Huguenot name. Berlin had a substantial Huguenot population in the 18th century, some of whom might have settled elsewhere in Prussia.
Nothing certain, but a possible area of research?
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Is there an echo in here?
vote up1vote down
I think we can safely say that this is a name equivalent to the English Richard, and so a surname derived from the given name of a male ancestor. The spelling is problematic; Richard is (I think) Reichart in German, Ryszard in Polish. As far as I can ascertain the spelling Ricardt does not exist in modern-day Germany or Poland. There are, however, a few Germans surnamed Ricard, which, I suspect, is a Huguenot name. Berlin had a substantial Huguenot population in the 18th century, some of whom might have settled elsewhere in Prussia.
Nothing certain, but a possible area of research?
vote up1vote down