Message: "Heerd?" - Behind the Name

Heerd?

by noiseless

1/2/2009, 5:22 PM

Does anyone have any background information about the meaning or history of this surname? It's German, and I suspect the original pronunciation was "H + ear + D," with the long "e" sound. I think it's been anglicized, because my relatives with this surname pronounce it "heard," like the past tense verb of hear. The family first emigrated from Germany to the U.S. in the second half of the nineteenth century, if that information is any help. Thanks for any info you can find!

#Heerd

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- faerielights (neverland4962) +3

1/2/2009, 6:14 PM

Best I can find is that it may be related to Heer meaning army. I don't know where the D would have come from. That's the closest to any German word I can find though, and it would make a certain amount of sense if an ancestor were a soldier.

- noiseless +2

1/3/2009, 6:09 PM

Thank you so much! I'll have to look at the family's geneaology to see if there have been any soldiers in past generations. That would be an interesting connection to the surname. Again, thank you.

- Jim Young (guest) +1

1/4/2009, 4:06 AM

Heerde and Heerdt are German place names - Heerd a variant of one of these perhaps?

- noiseless

1/6/2009, 5:11 PM

Perhaps it is. That would make sense! Thanks Jim, I'll have to look into that possibility.

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