The surname ‘Barnard’ is of English, French, Polish, and Czech origin. It is a variant of the name ‘Bernard’. This was brought to England by the Norman’s, reinforcing the Old English name ‘Boernheard’. The popularity of the given name among the Norman’s in the centuries immediately following the conquest greatly increased by virtue of it’s having been borne by ‘St Bernard’, of Clairvaux (c.1090-1153), founder and abbot of the Cistercian monastery at Clairvaux, and in Holland. Another sanctified bearer of the name was ‘St Bernard’, of Menthon ( 923-1008), founder of Alpine hospices and patron saint of mountaineers, whose cult accounts for the frequency of the name in Alpine regions. Public and Civil registry archive’s confirm that the surname ‘Barnard’ and or it’s variant’s, date as far back as the thirteenth century were a ‘Walter fil Bernardi’, is recorded during the reigns of King Henry II, Richard I, and John. The exact period of settlement in North America has not been definitely determined but data extracted from Historical archive’s confirm that one of the first forefathers to bring this name to America was a certain ‘Bartholomew Barnard’, from High Ongar, Essex, England. He emigrated to North…
Coat of arms: Azure, on a fe…