Origin Of The Surname Hardie

This surname is a bit of a mystery as there are several possibilities of its origin. One is that it derived from the old French name Hardi meaning (bold or daring), and may have appeared during the arrival of the Norman’s in the 11^th centuary. The name Hardy is still found in France today. The name could also have been given to people for acts of bravery or resilience, like many of the names given to people centuries ago which derived from their occupation, location or from their physical appearance.

This surname was first recorded in the year 1296 in Lanarkshire Scotland. The name of Lanarkshire land owner William Hardy is recorded on the Ragman Rolls of Edward I of England after his invasion of Scotland in 1296 and this is the earliest record of the name I am aware of.
This surname also has several variations of spelling e.g. Hardie, Hardy, Hardey, Hardee, Herdy etc. The difference in the spelling of these names, are probably due to different dialects and literacy at the time, as I found out while researching my family tree, on several of the documents our name was spelled Hardy.

A name is how it sounds, not how it is spelled, but in Scotland over the last 250 years the name has been more commonly spelled with an (ie) rather than (y).

I also believe that there could be some connections with the name MacHardie. Although these surnames are not etymologicaly connected, while researching my family tree I have come across Hardies who were originally MacHardies who have for some reason dropped the Mac, or Mc, from the name, thus, it can not be ruled out that some Hardies today may have originated from MacHardie.

Using information gathered from the IGI Family Search records, the regions of Scotland which the Hardies have been most numerous are, from central though north-eastern Scotland, spanning Glasgow, Stirlingshire, Angus, and Aberdeenshire.

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