Submitted Surname Revision History

A surname derived from someone of a lordly manner, or perhaps one who had earned the title in some contest of skill or had played the part of the ‘Lord of Misrule’ in the Yuletide festivities.

Also it is an occupational name for a servant in the household of the lord of the manor, or possibly a status name for a landlord or the lord of the manor himself.

The word itself derives from Old English hlāford, earlier hlāf-weard, literally ‘loaf-keeper’, since the lord or chief of a clan was responsible for providing food.