Origin of the Name Garrard
The ancient history of the name
Garrard was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. Meaning 'the son of Gerard', Garrard is a baptismal name. Variants of the name include Garard, Gerard, Garratt, Garrett, Garrad, Garritt, Garrod, Garrood and Garrettson. This name is of Anglo-Norman descent spreading to Ireland , Scotland and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts in these countries. Examples of such are a Johannes Gerard, a Thomas Gerard, and a Gyrerd Tolus, who were all recorded in the 'Poll Tax' of the West Riding of Yorkshire in the year 1379. A Thomas Garard was registered in the University of Oxford, in the year 1511. In Scotland a John Garrot was admitted Burgess Freeman of Glasgow, in the year 1600.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland , especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland ' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland . While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
The Garrard coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Garrard descendants.